


Change of Plans

by never_love_a_wild_thing



Series: Thiam Half Birthday 2018 [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Artist Theo Raeken, College, Consent, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feelings, Kid Fic, Liam is a Hot Mess, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Oblivious Liam, POV Theo Raeken, Pining Theo Raeken, Platonic Kissing, Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed, Sort Of, Theo Raeken Feels, Theo Raeken is Liam Dunbar's Anchor, Thiam is Endgame, everyone ships it, i guess, she's not a baby though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-05-26 00:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 55,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/never_love_a_wild_thing/pseuds/never_love_a_wild_thing
Summary: When Hayden breaks up with Liam minutes before his very public proposal was planned, Theo steps up to save him the embarrassment of being rejected in front of the pack. In order not to disappoint their Alpha, Theo and Liam decide to carry on faking their relationship until they can think of a good way to end it and keep everybody happy.In which Theo is crushing hard and neither of them plan things out well enough (or at all, really).For Thiam Half-Birthday Day 4: The Game of Life





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Because I really needed to write another fake/pretend relationship...  
> I have no idea how long this is going to be, but it will be a large part of the ongoing story in The Times Are Racing.
> 
> Enjoy!

The entire ordeal could all be blamed on one phone call to Scott, but of course nothing was that simple. Liam wanted to seem like he had his life together and was steadfastly turning a blind eye to every problem that came up between him and Hayden. Theo was somehow stuck hearing each of their versions of each argument, Liam’s oblivious play by plays and Hayden’s intense venting sessions. He knew that Liam was trying to play it off like everything was okay to Scott because he was his Alpha and his role model, even if it had been almost six months since Liam had seen him. What he hadn’t been expecting was for Liam to confess to Theo that he was planning on proposing to Hayden. It seemed like a bad idea, but it was made even worse by Liam telling Scott that he wanted to propose when the pack was getting together just a month later, before his and Liam’s graduation. It didn’t help that Theo had been in love with Liam since he’d brought him back from hell.

Theo spent the entire month trying to talk him out of it or find a way to hint to Hayden what was coming. They weren’t best friends, but they were close enough and he knew that Liam hadn’t really talked to her about getting married. Not seriously, anyways. The surprise wouldn’t end well for anyone involved.

“I want the pack to be there,” Liam said around a mouthful of pizza, “And I think it should be a big romantic thing, you know? I don’t think I’ve been putting enough into our relationship for her.”

Theo frowned. The biggest problem with Liam and Hayden, both back in high school and when they reunited again in college, had always been communication. Sure, they talked about the easy stuff. Words could always be easy to say if they were empty, which was something that Theo knew very well, but to have deep meaningful conversations, to work out problems by actually discussing them? He wasn’t sure Liam and Hayden had _ever_ done that.

“Do you not think I should?” Liam challenged, looking across the sofa at Theo in their small apartment, both of their feet up on the coffee table, a large box of pizza between them.

“I think it’s a dumb idea to propose in public,” Theo told him bluntly. Even years later, the fact that he had reached a point where his life was so mundane that he actually _had_ an opinion on marriage proposals was laughable.

“You think she’ll say no?” there was a fire in his eyes that often sparked when Liam prepared for an argument. It was kind of beautiful, but in a wild, dangerous way, like a strike of lightning, a burning fire, or an untamed animal.

Theo opened his mouth and then shut it quickly. He had argued with Liam over Hayden too many times to think that it was worth it anymore. “I just think that you should maybe figure out how she feels about it before you go and ask her to marry you in front of your entire pack,” he said.

“I know how she feels,” Liam told him defensively, taking an overly aggressive bite of his pizza.

Theo thought about arguing, but then shrugged. “Okay,” he said, deciding to leave it at that.

 

The month passed without success on Theo’s part either to change Liam’s mind or to warn Hayden about the proposal, except in that he thought that Hayden knew exactly what Liam was planning. He hadn’t said anything to her outright, but he also knew that Liam wasn’t nearly as subtle as he thought he was.

So Theo put his head down and got through finals, managing, he thought, to pass all of his classes. Less than a week before graduation, the day of Liam’s last final, the pack began to trickle into town. Corey and Mason, who would graduate a week later, were among the first to arrive at Theo and Liam’s apartment where they were staying.

Liam whisked Mason away almost immediately and Theo was left with Corey. He had mixed opinions about Corey. There was always a heavy feeling of guilt when Theo was with him, like with Hayden, but they were thrown together so often by default that, whether they liked it or not, they had become fairly close. Close enough that Corey (and he had sworn never to tell even Mason about it) was the only person in the world that Theo had ever told about Liam.

“You’re different,” Corey had said accusingly. It was probably around the end of their senior year of high school (Theo had had to stay back a year, even in Beacon Hills, for having never finished his senior year). “Why?”

Theo had tried to put it off to something else, but Corey wasn’t convinced. There was nothing else to tell him.

“Is it Liam?” he had asked as Theo climbed towards peak frustration.

“Of course it’s Liam!” Theo had snarled. The smug look on Corey’s face hadn’t helped the matter.

Now he wasn’t sure if he was glad that somebody knew or mad that he had to talk about it. Again.

“So…” Corey said, a few minutes after Liam and Mason left the apartment to do the grocery shopping. “Liam’s getting married.”

“I know,” Theo gritted out, clicking through the school’s website to see if his grades were up yet. It was McCallahan’s class, he thought. He had _definitely_ bombed that final.

“You’re not going to do anything about it?” Corey pressed.

Theo glared at him. “What would I do? Confess my love so we could go riding off into the sunset together? _That’s_ not going to happen.”

Corey rolled his eyes and resumed looking over the video game collection stacked underneath the TV. “I mean, did you tell Hayden? I thought you said they were having problems.”

“I can’t tell Hayden,” Theo gritted out, “First of all, because I told Liam I wouldn’t and second…”

“What would you say?” Corey finished for him. “I get it. _Hayden, your boyfriend’s going to ask you to marry him, but I need you to not, because I want him._ Doesn’t play off super well.”

Theo snorted. “That’s an understatement,” he said, shutting his computer. This was illegal. He was pretty sure. There was definitely a deadline for senior grades, and Theo was of the opinion that they ought to have passed that deadline the second he walked out of his last final.

“So what are you going to do?” Corey tried again, “Just sit there and watch him propose and then go down in flames?” He wrinkled his nose. “ _I_ don’t even want to see that.”

“ _I don’t know,_ ” Theo snarled, frustrated.

“You better think about it,” Corey told him, “The picnic’s tomorrow.”

Theo groaned. “I was trying _not_ to think about it,” he replied.

“Yeah, cause that always works out well,” Corey said.

 

He didn’t think about it. He thought about the rest of the pack and how they would treat him this time (it got a little bit better with each meeting, but Theo wasn’t sure he could ever be totally accepted by them), he thought about what they should have for dinner, and he thought about _when_ he was getting his grades back, for fuck’s sake. But he didn’t think about Liam proposing to Hayden.

The picnic had been the pack’s best choice of a celebration dinner before Liam, Theo, and Hayden’s graduation. It was cheaper than a restaurant, they didn’t have to try and find a table to seat thirteen, and Scott and Malia’s daughter could run wild all she wanted while their infant son could scream his head off if he wanted and only annoy the pack.

Liam’s _fantastic_ idea of a proposal was for a plane to write “Will you marry me, Hayden Romero?” in the sky, but it turned out that writing messages in the sky with a plane was kind of expensive, so he shortened it to “Marry me?” and bought a couple extra bottles of champagne. Theo rolled his eyes.

As far as he was aware, Liam hadn’t seen Hayden in days. Not since her sister had gotten to town. If Theo asked him about it, he would just shrug and say that it was important for her to see her sister. Why he wasn’t invited to spend time with them didn’t seem to cross his mind.

She met the rest of them at the park, giving Liam a hug and then quickly moving on to talk to the rest of the pack. Theo, seeing all of the proud and significant looks that Scott was giving Liam as he stuck close by his side (more out of not wanting to piss anyone off than anything), felt sick to his stomach.

As the reunions were slowly starting to trickle into casual conversations, Hayden appeared at Liam’s side, whispering in his ear and then taking him away from the group, far enough that werewolf ears couldn’t hear. It wasn’t until they were starting to set up the food (too close to the plane’s scheduled time for Theo’s comfort), that Hayden came back without Liam. She looked a little upset but sent Theo a confident smile.

“What?” he asked quietly.

“It’s fine,” she assured him, eyes glancing around at the other supernatural creatures in the group, “He’s fine…well, he will be.” There was a bit of doubt in her eyes, but then it vanished and she moved away to help Derek and Lydia set out plates on the giant blanket.

Theo looked over his shoulder as soon as he heard Liam’s familiar heartbeat come back into his range of hearing. He was pale and looked emotionally unsteady, but he gave Theo a brave smile as he came to stand at his side again. They had broken up. Theo didn’t have to ask.

“You okay?” he asked in a low voice.

Liam waited a minute and then nodded. “Course,” he said, unconvincingly.

“Want to talk about it?”

Liam fidgeted. “Later,” he said.

Theo looked closely at him for a minute and then nodded.

“Liam!” Scott called.

They looked over at him. He was grinning and pointing at something in the sky. Theo’s heart sank. Liam was going to have to tell them. He would hate that. And minutes after getting dumped. Corey was right, he should have come up with a plan.

Liam’s face fell when he saw the words, written in neat, cloudy, white spirals. Theo didn’t need a plan. He could get Liam out of this. He _had_ to now.

He let an astonished smile light up his face and turned towards his best friend. “Liam!” he said, giving his voice a bit of breathiness for show. The insanity of it all almost made him actually laugh.

Liam turned wide eyes on him.

“Aren’t you going to get down on one knee?” he asked, raising his eyebrows, trying to communicate the ill-thought-out plan to Liam.

“Uh…” he said dumbly, turning to face Theo and stumbling down onto one knee, “Will you marry me?”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Not if that’s the only speech you’re going to give me,” he challenged, crossing his arms, feeling the eyes of the entire pack on them.

Liam, though, didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were rekindled with their usual competitive fire and his back straightened. “Theo Raeken,” he said boldly, “You’re my best friend, besides Mason, obviously – “

“Off to a great start,” Theo told him with a smirk that edged a little too much on a full-blown smile.

“Shut up,” Liam ginned, the sadness and shock momentarily erased as he focused all of his energy on one-upping Theo, “I tolerate you sometimes. You make me laugh and you piss me off more than anyone I’ve ever known, and I don’t know how, but spending every day with you is one of the easiest yes’s I’ve ever had to say. So now maybe you’ll do me a solid and make it even by saying yes to spending the rest of our lives together.”

Theo’s heart nearly stopped. There hadn’t been a single change in Liam’s admittedly very fast heart rate from beginning to end. And Liam wasn’t a good liar.

“What do you say?” Liam ginned, looking a little less sure of himself as his competitive speech wound down. “Want to get married?”

There was really only one thing for Theo to say now.

“Yes.”


	2. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we have the fallout from Theo's impulsive decision-making. Sorry this took a little while to post. I have no idea if I'm going to have an official update schedule for this fic or not, so just hang in there (I will probably update around once a week, but we'll see).
> 
> Enjoy!

There was a long pause before the applause took over. Theo knew that he had just surprised the rest of the pack as much as he had surprised himself and Liam. They stared at each other with wide eyes, Liam still on his knee, Theo still standing above him.

“Give him the ring, idiot!” Malia shouted.

Liam jumped into motion, shoving his hand into his pocket and dragging a lone ring out of it. It was less girly than Theo had expected, partially, he guessed, because it was cheaper than anything with a center stone and also a band with an interesting design was a bit more Hayden’s style.

“Uh,” Liam said again, “I used my pinky finger to size it, so…”

Theo laughed, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot,” he told him fondly, “I’ll wear it on my pinky for now. We can get it resized later.”

Liam sent him a silent thank you as he stood to slide the ring onto Theo’s little finger. It was a little loose, but actually it fit surprisingly well. He was sure it wouldn’t have fit Hayden’s ring finger. He gave Liam a small smile in response.

“Don’t make me tell you that you have to kiss him when you propose,” Stiles shouted. It seemed that now the pack was over the shock of realizing that it was Theo that Liam was proposing to and not Hayden, they were having far too much fun with it. Theo couldn’t help but wonder when the other shoe would drop.

Theo’s head turned to look at him in surprise. Somehow, he hadn’t thought this far ahead, but before he could say anything, Liam’s hands were on either side of his face, bringing his attention back to him. His hands were gentle on Theo’s face, but his eyes were determined. If Liam could see this through, Theo thought, then he probably could too. Not that that in any way prepared him for the sudden sensation of Liam’s lips on his.

Theo’s eyes fell closed automatically. Liam’s lips were so soft and warm against his own, and he barely had time to remember that he needed to do something with his hands when Liam’s lips parted, Theo’s parting with them on reflex, and his tongue slipped inside Theo’s mouth. Theo felt himself sigh in a completely embarrassing way, and his hands reached out to Liam’s waist to steady himself.

Liam pulled him impossibly closer and his tongue licked into Theo’s mouth with renewed vigor, hands sliding from his face around to the back of his head where his fingers clutched at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. Theo’s tongue slipped into Liam’s mouth and sucked for just a few seconds before his brain suddenly kicked back into action and he pulled away abruptly.

He regretted the distance immediately, but he knew he would thank himself for it later. Liam was still only a few inches from him, but Theo could see his entire face now, eyes wide in dazed confusion, lips still slightly parted, rosy and bitten and shiny with spit. It was so beautiful and so sad to Theo that he had to pull himself away, eyes moving to the pack so that he could remember how to think.

Mason and Corey were staring at them in open-mouthed surprise. Malia had her hands over Allie’s eyes and Stiles and Derek looked like they were trying not to laugh. Scott was smiling at them in soft understanding, like he knew what it felt like to be in love and unable to help himself. Her eyes met Theo’s and she took her hand away from her mouth to mouth “what the fuck?” angrily and then whirl away, stalking out of the park as fast as she could without running.

Theo thought vaguely that that was just another mess that he would have to clean up. How did he and Liam get together? When? What about Hayden? Where did Hayden go? He would have absolutely loved to be swallowed up by the earth again, only he had a feeling that hell might end up being eerily similar to reality in this case.

He looked at Liam again, who still looked to adorably confused, and realized that neither of them looked particularly happy and in love at the moment, more like going through a state of total shock, so he smiled and took Liam’s hand.

“Sorry,” he said bashfully to the pack, “I think we got a little carried away…”

That seemed to stir everyone into motion. Liam squeezed his hand a little too hard and smiled as the pack converged on them in offering congratulations and advice and champagne. It in no way ended up being the laid-back pack picnic that they had all been expecting. There was nonstop talking and nonstop drinking and eventually the tides of conversations turned to all of the questions that Theo had been dreading. Corey was right. He should have thought this through.

“You know,” Scott laughed as the sun sank below the hill behind them, “I really thought you meant you were going to propose to Hayden tonight, Liam. No offence, Theo, but I didn’t even know you guys were dating!”

“Yeah,” Liam said, heart racing. Theo squeezed his hand, trying to warn him to calm it down. It worked surprisingly well. “Well, it was kind of sudden, I guess, but, you know, we’ve been in love with each other for a long time. Right Handsome?”

Liam’s eyes found his and Theo felt his heart stutter at the sea of bright blue. “Damn right, Hot Stuff,” he smirked, watching Liam blush.

“I mean, I get it now,” Scott assured them quickly, “Like it’s definitely obvious that you guys are in love. It’s just, you know…wait, where did Hayden go actually?”

“She told me she was meeting her sister so she had to leave a little bit early,” Theo said smoothly, watching Liam look around like he had only just noticed his ex of a few hours was missing.

“I’m glad she’s okay with it though, you know?” Scott said in blissful ignorance, “Like giving you a pep talk right before? That’s some real pack stuff right there.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed weakly.

“Well, anyways, I’m really happy for you guys,” he told them with such genuine sincerity that Theo almost caved on the spot, “And if you need any help with the wedding or anything at all, you know I’m here for you, right?”

“O-of course,” Liam stammered, looking at Scott with wide eyes before being pulled into a bone-crunching hug.

“I love you, Liam,” Scott said, releasing him and then pulling Theo into another hug. “And I love you too, Theo.”

“Um, yeah, you too, Scott…hey, we should probably get going, though,” Liam said, looking at Theo like he was trying to communicate something, “We have to be up early for graduation tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah,” Theo said dumbly, allowing fingers to thread through his own, and then following Liam around the pack as they made their goodbyes and accepted congratulations over and over again. Corey was trying not to look extremely worried when Mason told them that they would see them back at their place, but he was failing pretty epically, not that Liam seemed to notice. In fact, he was actually being even more oblivious than usual.

Practically everyone had told him at some point that they had really been expecting him to propose to Hayden, which Liam responded to with enough distracted ambiguity that they then tended to drop the subject and talk about the wedding instead. Theo probably shouldn’t have been as annoyed at the fact that they were saying it right in front of him as he was, but at least it was good for appearances.

Needless to say, he was fairly annoyed and extremely stressed out by the time they finally made it out of the park, and Liam was distracted beyond belief. They walked through the darkening streets in a tense silence for a while, neither of them speaking until they were only a few blocks from their apartment.

“Why did you do that?” Liam asked very suddenly.

Theo looked at him and shrugged, letting his eyes fall back to his beat-up sneakers.

“That’s not an answer,” Liam informed him, “Seriously, Theo! Come on, I saved your life!”

“Yeah, and I saved yours,” Theo replied shortly. He was annoyed that Liam was pressing him, but he was also scared of what he might say if Liam pressed too hard.

Liam seemed to be trying to find another angle before they got home and Theo could shut himself away in his room, so Theo gave in while he could still control the conversation.

“I know how much it meant to you,” he said quietly, “Scott’s approval. You’ve been trying to prove yourself to him for as long as I’ve known you –“

“No I haven’t!” Liam argued, but Theo gave him a Look and he closed his mouth quickly.

“I don't want you to have to deal with telling the entire pack that you and Hayden aren’t getting married because you broke up, like five seconds after it happened.” Liam said nothing, so Theo looked at him.

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting – eyes wide in amazed gratitude, maybe? Or a look of fondness and maybe a blush. Whatever it was, he shouldn’t have been so surprised to find Liam’s eyes downcast, a deeply sad and weary look to his face.

“I don’t know what happened,” Liam said, voice so sad that Theo wanted to wrap him up and hid him away from the world. “We weren’t doing as well as we had been, but we almost always bounced back. Why couldn’t we this time?”

Hayden. Theo sighed. He was going to have to deal with it eventually. He had dealt with their breakups before, but this one seemed pretty final, and he was sure that Liam was aware of that. Whatever Hayden had said to him, he didn’t seem to have any hope of them getting back together.

“I don’t know, Liam,” he said, “Sometimes no matter how hard you fight for something, you end up losing it anyways.”

Liam looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face, and then looked away. “She left the picnic,” he said, “Did you see her leave?”

Theo took too long to respond and blazing blue eyes turned on him. “Yeah,” he admitted finally.

“When? Did she say anything?” Liam demanded.

Theo slipped past him to let them into their building. “No,” he said. It was technically true. “And I don’t think she wants to talk to me either, so don’t even ask.” He glanced over his shoulder as he held the door long enough for Liam to catch it and saw Liam’s mouth close.

“When did she leave?” he asked again, sounding slightly pained.

Theo tried to ignore the question, making it all the way to the second floor before Liam grabbed his arm.

“After we kissed!” he told him, yanking his arm away, “I’m sorry, okay? What else do you want me to say? Do you want me to compensate you for kissing you? How much is your kiss worth, Liam?”

Liam stared at him in total shock. Theo didn’t usually snap at him like this and he was totally aware of how much of an asshole he was coming across as, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He was used to feeling a little bit suffocated, but right now he felt totally backed into a corner, lashing out at anything he could hurt. He didn’t wait for a reply but unlocked the door to their apartment and stormed inside, trying to make it to his room before Liam could push him any further.

He dodged through the door to his room and slammed it behind him a little harder than he had meant to, leaning back against it and sighing heavily. He definitely fucked up. He could hear Liam’s heartbeat racing on the other side of the door for a minute or two, and then it faded away. After a few minutes, he moved over to his bed and collapsed onto it, the weight of everything that had just happened crashing down on him.

He needed to talk to Liam, but he just couldn’t do it right now. He twisted the delicate ring around on his pinky with a frown. He had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well.

An hour or so later, he still wasn’t ready. Mason and Corey had just come home, and Liam and Mason had immediately locked themselves into Liam’s room, the volume on the TV in the living room turned all the way up so that Theo couldn’t hear them. A knock came at his door. It was definitely Corey. He closed his eyes as if he could pretend to be asleep.

Unfortunately, nothing kept Corey out of Theo’s personal life, especially not Theo, and he came in anyways, closing the door slowly behind him. Theo had been expecting an immediate siege, so the silence surprised him into pushing himself onto his elbow and squinting at Corey.

“I think Liam left this on your door,” Corey said finally, crossing the room to Theo’s bed and chucking the sticky note at his face as he sat down by Theo’s feet.

Theo plucked the neon orange note off of his face and read it, feeling his heart drop somehow further.

 _Thank you._ Was all Liam had written.

 _Fuck,_ Theo thought, _I might have just made it worse._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "how much is your kiss worth" part is from a show called Evergreen, and I know it's a little cringy right now, but trust me, it will pay out later (also Theo knows he's being a total asshole when he says it. Not ideal, but it happens).  
> And Manon, just so you know, I'm totally using Buttercup later, but I think Theo just needed to get back at Liam for calling him Handsome. Thanks for the idea!


	3. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you all know, I have no idea where this fic is going, and at the moment there's no end in sight (which is, you know, just slightly terrifying), but I'm really into it right now, so here's another chapter :)  
> Btw, the amount of pining in this chapter is ridiculous. You have been warned.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Fuck,” Theo complained, shoving the sticky note between the pages of the sketchbook on his bedside table and falling back onto his bed again. “Corey, I didn’t think this through.”

Corey snorted. “I’ll say,” he agreed, “What, you just thought you would swoop in and save his ass and there wouldn’t be any repercussions?”

“I panicked,” Theo told him, “You know how much Scott’s opinion means to him! And that pack – they’re all so…up in each other’s business. He would have probably started a fight just to get out of talking about his feelings.”

Corey rolled his eyes. “Did you think about what would happen later? This isn’t some random stranger, Theo, this is Scott. You’re either going to have to keep pretending or come clean right away.”

Theo sat up and they looked at each other, both knowing exactly what Liam’s first choice would be.

“I can do it,” Theo told Corey, sounding more confident than he felt.

“Oh no!” Corey said quickly, “No. No, you don’t. You can’t put yourself through that just because Liam can’t get his shit together!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Theo insisted, “I’ll be fine. I mean…it’s not like I have to worry about falling _more_ in love with him…”

Corey looked doubtful but wisely didn’t argue. “Then what are you going to do?” he asked instead.

Theo twisted the ring on his pinky. “Talk to Liam…if he’ll talk to me…”

Corey glanced at Liam’s sketchbook. “I’m pretty sure he will, and even if he wouldn’t have, Mason will talk him into it,” he assured him.

“I wonder what they’re talking about…” Theo said quietly.

“Oh, you know,” Corey leaned back on his hands, “Probably how Hayden broke up with him and then he proposed to you in front of the entire pack and then you kissed him like it was your last day on earth, which, by the way, how did that feel?”

Theo fell back onto his bed again with a heavy sigh. “It was amazing,” he said sadly, remembering the taste of Liam’s mouth, the feel of his tongue. It had been so perfect and yet Theo wanted more. He _needed_ more. He pressed is palms over his eyes, feeling the cool metal of the ring against his cheek. “Fuck, Corey. I’m so screwed.”

Corey knew better than to say “I told you so”, and instead stayed silent.

“I asked him if he wanted compensation for kissing me,” Theo mumbled, almost hoping that Corey wouldn’t hear him.

Corey’s eyebrows drew together into a frown. “There are so many things wrong with that,” he said.

“I know,” Theo groaned, “It’s so fucked up, but I just don’t know what to do.”

“Theo, you _have_ to talk to him,” Corey pointed out, “The sooner the better.” He checked his phone and then stood up, pulling on Theo’s ankle. “Like, right now. Me and Mason will be there too, okay?”

Theo looked at him. He was still annoyed, but it was probably a good thing that Corey and Mason were staying on top of things. He could only imagine how bad the communication between him and Liam would be if they weren’t there.

“Fine,” he agreed finally, allowing Corey to pull him to his feet.

Theo followed him into the living room and froze at the sight of Liam. It was painfully obvious that he had been crying. Eyes still red-rimmed, the scent of salty tears mingling with the raw, smoky scent of anger. Theo hadn’t been wrong about only feeling one emotion at a time, but Liam’s sadness fluctuated so often to anger that they were nearly one in the same.

Liam looked up as Corey shoved Theo a little farther into the room, eyes burning with determination. “I’m sorry,” were the first words out of his mouth, “What you did for me – I shouldn’t have pushed you. Not just anyone would have done that.”

“I shouldn’t have…said what I said to you,” Theo found himself saying, “That was all sorts of fucked up.”

“Yeah, well…you’re my best friend…” he glanced at Mason, “One of my best friends. And you almost made me kill Scott once, so if we can get past that, we can get past anything.”

Theo could feel Corey looking at him and swallowed a little thickly. It wasn’t Liam’s fault that he didn’t like Theo the same way that Theo liked him, and he wasn’t about to let that mess up their friendship.

“Yeah,” he said, finally moving to sit down on the couch, Corey perching on the arm next to him rather than the armchair, but Theo was sort of glad. Maybe he needed Corey to be his conscience right now.

“So, um…I was thinking…what are we going to do about this?” Liam turned his big blue eyes on Theo and Theo felt at a loss for words. “I mean…Scott thinks we’re engaged now, so…”

“You want to keep pretending?” Theo asked, feeling Corey’s knee dig painfully into his back.

“Would you do that?” Liam asked curiously.

Theo twisted the ring around his finger again, realized what he was doing, and dropped his hands into his lap. He shrugged. “Why not?”

Liam exhaled harshly and smiled beautifully. “See?” He told Mason, “I told you he’d be cool with it!”

Mason looked like he disapproved of the idea just as much as Corey, even though Theo had never said anything to him and he knew that Corey had never said anything either. “Scott’s _going_ to find out,” he told them.

“It won’t be for that long,” Liam said quickly, “It’ll just be for like a few months maybe, and then we’ll have an amicable break up and everything will go back to normal.”

Theo couldn’t help but feel like that was a little overly optimistic, even for Liam.

“You’re just going to pretend that you almost got married and then go back to being friends like it’s no big deal?” Corey asked, sounding unconvinced.

“It’ll be fine,” Theo told him, “We can make it work. But only if you guys help.”

Neither of them seemed particularly happy about it, but they agreed. “You need boundaries, though,” Corey qualified, “Like safe words or something.”

 Liam’s face turned completely red, which made Theo grin. “We’re not actually going to have sex!” he said quickly, looking at Theo as if to make sure that they were on the same page there.

“Yeah, I got that,” Theo rolled his eyes with a small smile. That was the last thing he needed.

“I meant so you know when it’s okay to hold hands and kiss and stuff,” Corey snorted, “So everything’s consensual.”

“Oh,” Liam said, “Right.” He looked at Theo. “So, uh…what are you cool with?”

Theo shrugged. “Anything,” he said vaguely. There was another painful jab to his back and he twisted to glare at Corey. “Okay, fine. Um. Let’s keep the kissing to a minimum. Other than that, I’m cool with whatever is normally decent in public.”

“What’s decent in public for _normal_ people Liam,” Mason told his best friend, who scowled, looking offended.

“That was _one_ time!” Liam argued.

“It was not one time,” Mason informed him, “It was many, many times.”

“Okay, well…it’s not like I’m going to go overboard on the PDA with Theo anyways,” Liam said.

Theo rolled his eyes but was hardly offended.  Liam had a hard enough time with his own sexuality and Theo wasn’t about to confuse him any more if he could help it.

“So anything besides kissing? Both of you?” Mason asked, looking between them.

Theo and Liam looked at each other, shrugging and nodding.

“And your safe word?”  Corey pressed.

“We could have like coded nicknames for each other?” Liam suggested, “Yours can be Hot Stuff, because I swear if you call me that one more time, I’m going to want to break your nose. Again.”

Corey stared at him. “How is that help-“

“Fine,” Theo agreed, “And if you need to tap out, you can call me Boo and I’ll knock you unconscious. Again.”

“Or I could just call you Asshole,” Liam suggested with a playful grin.

“Yeah, because that’s such a rare occurrence. Maybe I should change your codename to Idiot,” Theo teased back.

“Theo, can I talk to you?” Mason asked suddenly.

Theo’s eyes snapped to Liam’s best friend in surprise, but he nodded and followed him out of their apartment and down the hall to the stairwell, which Liam and Theo had figured out pretty early on was fairly soundproof from their apartment as long as they didn’t listen hard enough.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mason asked.

“Did Corey talk to you?” Theo asked, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

“No, but I know you,” Mason informed him, “You’ve changed a lot, Theo. You care now. And Liam’s my best friend, but he can be one hell of an idiot sometimes, so don’t feel like you can’t tell him “no” when you need to. You don’t have to break your own heart just to keep him happy.”

Theo hated it. He didn’t mind this pack so much usually and he was pretty much always okay with Mason, but he suddenly felt like he was constantly being backed into a corner.

“Yeah, well. In case you forgot, this,” he tapped his chest right over his heart, “Isn’t actually mine.” He pushed past Mason out of the stairwell, and Mason followed.

“Just…you know what you’re getting yourself into, right?” he asked, trailing along behind Theo.

“Of course,” Theo smirked, reaching for the doorknob, “I always know what I’m doing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't noticed, Liam is extremely oblivious in this fic. Like, impressively so.


	4. The Commencement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little bit of a mess, but what else is new? Also there's an original character in here for just a second. I may bring her back at some point, but I don't usually like reading ocs in fics that much, so let me know what you think, if you would like to see more of her or not. I'm open to suggestions :) (Also the hit count she mentions was the hit count for this fic last time I edited this chapter. It's already gone up but it was on 780 even last time I checked, and I kind of liked the super specific number so I just kept it. In case anybody cares...)
> 
> Thanks for reading and for all of your support in the comments and kudos! It really means a lot to me <3
> 
> Enjoy!

Theo had no idea what he was doing. It was swelteringly hot outside and the long black graduation gown didn’t help. He and Liam couldn’t sit together because they were receiving different degrees, and Theo wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, the pack were all in the audience, along with Liam’s parents (who Theo still didn’t know if they were supposed to pretend to be engaged in front of or not), so at least Theo didn’t have to fake anything and could just focus on making it across the stage in one piece, but on the other hand, he missed Liam. He twisted the ring around his pinky subconsciously. He and Liam had only kind of been friends through senior year of high school, but then they went to college together and everything changed. Theo probably wouldn’t have made it all four years if it hadn’t been for Liam. He could admit that now. It wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as being in love with the idiot. Sure, they fought and Theo pined, but Liam had been the one to talk him out of a biochem major and into studio art, which was something that Theo had always loved very deep down and never told anybody but Liam about.

_“I fucking hate this!” Theo had spat maybe a little too loudly in the silent library. It hadn’t been particularly disturbing to anyone. Finals were a rough time and pretty much everyone lost their mind at least once._

_“What are you working on?” Liam had asked, not looking up from the paper that he was writing, or at least staring at, on his computer._

_“Orgo,” Theo complained. He had been complaining about the class all semester and honestly, Liam was kind of a saint for putting up with it._

_“Isn’t that, like, the basis of biochem?” Liam had glanced up at him with those beautiful blue eyes._

_“I mean…it’s the basis for chem, but… I just hate this so much,” he pushed his books away and leaned back in his chair. “Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered with this major.”_

_“I_ always _wonder why you even bothered with that major,” Liam told him flatly, typing a word into his computer and then erasing the entire sentence. He looked up suddenly at Theo. “Is it because of the Dread Doctors?”_

_“What?” Theo asked, frowning in surprise._

_“Are you doing biochem because that’s what you learned from the Dread Doctors?” Liam clarified._

_Theo paused to think about it. “Yeah…maybe. I guess. It’s what I’m good at.”_

_“Do you like it?”_

_“What?”_

_“_ Do you like it _?” Liam snorted, beginning to type again._

_“No, I fucking hate it. I tell you that at least once a week,” Theo reminded him bitterly._

_“Then fucking drop the major,” Liam told him._

_Theo rolled his eyes. “And do what?”_

_“I don’t know,” Liam rolled his eyes, “What do you want to do?”_

_“I...” Theo had never actually thought about that. “Huh. I don’t know.”_

_Liam looked at him and then pulled one of Theo’s notebooks across the table and flipped through it to a sketch of an Aequorea victoria that Theo had done in Bio 160 when he was bored out of his mind. “What about this?” he asked, holding the notebook up._

And that was why Theo was getting his degree in studio art today.

“What’s with the ring?” Cecily asked next to him. She was about as close to a friend as Theo had within his department, but her worst trait by far was how observant she was.

“It’s um…nothing,” Theo said quickly, hands falling into his lap again, “Hey, how long do you think this lady is going to be talking for? I’m kind of getting hungry.”

“Nuh-uh, Teddy,” she said sternly, “That thing looks expensive. Where did you get it? Did you steal it? I didn’t know people wore pinky rings. It’s kind of tacky, honestly. You should have stolen a diamond engagement ring and sold it and then split the money with me. Share the earnings, you know? We’re about to get degrees in studio art, we’re going to need it.”

Theo smiled at her, raising his eyebrows. “You are completely ridiculous,” he told her.

“It’s endearing,” she sniffed, haughtily, “So is that what it is? An engagement ring? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“Fuck off,” Theo told her, laughing quietly as the woman speaking introduced the next speaker.

“No, you were supposed to never find your soulmate so that we could get married and pretend to be in love when we’re like 35 and then my mom will get off of my back about how I’m flighty and will never settle down with a nice boy no matter how many times that I tell her that I still think boys are icky and always will.”

Theo snorted again. “I’ve got enough of that going on without your help, thanks,” he said without really noticing what he was saying.

“What?” Cecily asked, “No. Wait, what?”

“Never mind,” he glanced across the crowd, looking with Liam’s blond head among the BAs.

“No!” she whined, “Stop doing that thing where you never tell me the interesting shit that happens to you! You only ever tell me “Liam was hogging the shower this morning” or “Why do I have peanut butter and jelly for lunch? I fucking hate peanut butter and jelly” or “Hey Cecily, pass me the pastels”. Oh my god are you pretending to be in a relationship with someone? Is it Liam?”

Theo stared at her. She had hit the nail right on the fucking head. “How do you do that?” he asked, a little amazed.

“My auntie thinks I’m psychic or something,” she said, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. “Is that your engagement ring? I thought Liam had a girlfriend. _Oh my god!_ Was that supposed to be hers?” She stared from the ring to Theo. “This is some good shit right here. I’m going to make a story out of it and put it on the internet for people to read.”

“Why would anybody read it?” Theo complained, raising his hand without her asking so she could examine the ring.

“Because it’s a good story. And I mean, you’re totally in love with him, so that only makes it that much better – “

“Not for me,” Theo said, snatching his hand back.

“I’m sorry, Theo,” she said quickly, “I’m…you know, here for you.”

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“Seriously, though, do you think I could put this on the internet? I think it would get at least 778 hits.”

“That’s really weirdly specific,” he told her, applauding as the last speaker finally finished and the President of the college came up to call up the graduating class.

“Can I?” she asked, “I’ll make it so you guys end up together.”

“Sure, whatever,” Theo said, getting to his feet as the Bachelors of Science were called to stand and stretching.

“Oh, also, I want to meet your friends. Can I meet them today?”

“We’ll see,” Theo smirked.

Before he knew it, Theo had a Bachelor’s degree, which had never really been something that he had put a whole lot of thought into until Liam had asked him what colleges he was applying to. Apparently he had still been mad about Mason and Corey going to the same school, but he made their alma mater sound pretty good and Theo somehow wormed his way into a scholarship and an acceptance letter at the last minute, and then there they were. Now, though…now he wasn’t too sure what came next.

After the commotion of congratulations from the pack and their friends and Liam’s parents, and of Cecily introducing herself to everyone, they were suddenly shunted out to a fancy restaurant with Liam’s Parents and Scott.

“It must be an exciting weekend for you boys,” Jenna said with a twinkle in her eye.

Theo looked at Liam, wondering how exactly they were supposed to tell his parents.

“Clearly it was Liam’s idea to propose the day before graduation,” David agreed, shaking his head over Liam’s poor judgement, which, to be fair, was probably something that he was pretty used to by now.

“Wait, you already told them?” Theo asked, nearly dropping his fork on its way to his mouth.

Liam looked a little sheepish, for once aware that maybe he should have at least told his fake fiancé that he was going to tell his parents about their engagement _before_ he did it. “I texted Mom last night when we got home. I figured she would tell Dad, anyways.”

Theo stared at Liam in horror. Did he really think that was okay? Theo had done some questionable things in his past, but even he knew that an engagement was worth at least a phone call to both parents. “Are you serious?” he asked.

Liam’s eyes slipped from Theo to his parents. “I’m sorry?” he asked.

Theo couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, too loud for the fancy restaurant, head tipped back, wiping tears from his eyes. “I love you Liam,” he shook his head when he regained composure, and then froze, not noticeably, but he definitely felt his blood turn to ice. It was one of those things that people just said, and he knew nobody would really notice, but he _meant_ it, and he kind of wondered if Liam would notice.

“We really didn’t mind,” David said, smiling good-naturedly, “We already knew he was going to propose, it was just nice to know how it turned out. Besides, we get to congratulate you both in person today, right?”

The tips of Liam’s ears were red and his eyes were fixed down onto his plate. _What does that mean?_ Theo wondered.

“Actually, it’s even better, since we can give you your graduation present and engagement present at the same time,” Jenna said, grinning at Scott, who pulled out an envelope and handed it to Theo.

Theo met his bright smile with a confused frown.

“It’s from Jenna and David and the pack. We all contributed a little,” he explained, “But it was their idea.”

Theo looked at Liam, who seemed just as confused as he felt, but motioned for Theo to open the envelope.

Theo’s eyes snapped up to the expectant smiles around him the second he read the first line of the paper inside. “Why does this look like a lease agreement?” he asked, causing Liam to snatch the paper from his hands and scan through it.

“Um…” Scott looked at Liam’s parents, who nodded, “We kind of rented you an apartment back in Beacon Hills. Liam said you guys were thinking about moving back, so…” he shifted uncomfortably.

“It might be crossing a line a little, but, well…” David slid another envelope across the table, this time directed towards Liam. “I didn’t read it, but I was speaking with the head of the historical society at the hospital the other day and she had a lot of good things to say about you.”

Liam passed the lease back to Theo and picked up the letter from the museum with trembling hands. “Don’t mess with me, Geyer,” he warned his dad in what would normally have been a teasing voice.

Theo didn’t think too hard about it, just leaning back in his chair so he could slip an arm around Liam’s shoulders. Liam didn’t look at him but flushed a little pink and ripped the envelope open.

He had applied for the internship at the Oak Creek Memorial Site back in December with little hope of getting it. A large sum of money had been donated to creating a museum focused on the Japanese concentration camps in America in World War II just over a year ago, and with a subject so little touched on and with such a historically rich place as Oak Creek, competition for the internship was high. Not to mention, it was paid and gave an opportunity for a possible career at the end of the contract. But Liam was smart, Theo reminded himself, and he had good connections. He could –

“I got the internship,” Liam said breathlessly, and Theo felt his face break out into a wide grin.

And there were even more congratulations, but Theo couldn’t begrudge them this time. Liam had certainly earned them. Theo watched as he stood from the table to hug both of his parents and Scott, who looked like he was seconds from crying with pride. Liam sat back down next to Theo and slumped into his seat in relief.

“Nice going,” he said, offering a fist for Liam to bump lazily with his own. He caught everyone else’s bewildered looks and added, “Buttercup.”

Liam seemed to happy to do much besides grin at him. “I can’t believe I got it,” he said, “And I can’t believe you guys put down the deposit on an apartment for us.”

“It’s paid for a few months,” Jenna said waving a hand vaguely, “What I can’t believe is that you’re only going to settle for a bro-fist from him. You know you can kiss in front of us, right? It’s not like we don’t know that you have sex.”

Liam spat his water all over the nice white napkin in his lap and Theo laughed helpfully at him. “Mom!” Liam complained, glaring at Theo as he wiped up the water.

“Don’t pressure them, Jenna,” David told her fondly.

“I don’t know,” Scott said, grinning, “They didn’t have a problem making out in front of my kids last night.”

Liam’s forehead dropped onto the table, ears totally red with embarrassment. “Can I use your napkin, Boo?”

Theo’s heart jumped, but he plastered on a smile and passed Liam his napkin, standing up. “I’m going to run to the bathroom,” he told the table, “Be right back.”

_Why this?_ He wondered as he slipped to the back of the restaurant. If Liam was uncomfortable kissing Theo, he could have just said so. It was probably more normal to be uncomfortable kissing your best friend than to tell him that he could kiss you if he needed to. But Theo had become a little self-sacrificing when it came to Liam over the years.

It was just talking though. It would have been easy to talk Liam’s parents out of pressuring them, but…Theo had panicked. He guessed Liam had panicked too. Theo pushed his way into the bathroom and looked around, unsure what to do now. He didn’t actually need to use it. His first instinct when Liam had used the safe word was to give him space immediately. He crossed to the sink and splashed his face with water. He _so_ didn’t know what he was doing.

The door opened while he was drying his face with a paper towel and Scott came in, looking just a tiny bit like a kicked puppy.

“Sorry if that made you uncomfortable,” he said, watching Theo in the mirror, “I didn’t mean to push you guys. Are you okay, though? You and Liam? You didn’t fight, did you?”

Theo wanted to laugh. He and Liam always fought, but it was less fighting and more bickering and now Theo just had to deal with the fact that Scott McCall was genuinely concerned about his well-being. “No?” Theo frowned, “Why?”

Scott shrugged. “Liam was just usually a little more physical with his girlfriends in the past…sorry if that’s uncomfortable. I just wanted to make sure you guys are okay.” Scott had his very best puppy dog expression on, and Theo wasn’t even sure he was trying. “I mean, you _just_ got engaged. If there’s anything I can do – “

“No!” Theo said quickly, “We just…didn’t want to scar his parents, you know? I mean, this is kind of new to them. They probably thought Liam meant he was proposing to Hayden, you know?”

Scott smiled a little. “I think his parents are okay with it,” he told Theo, “They like you, you know? It’s got to be pretty tiring to have everyone expecting Liam to be engaged to Hayden instead of you, though.”

“Yeah,” Theo sighed, unsure of what else to say. This conversation was just plain _weird_. “This won’t affect the pack, will it?” he found himself asking without his own permission. “I know I’m not technically part of it and still not everybody trusts me, but – “

“Hey,” Scott gave him a painfully earnest look, a solid hand resting on Theo’s shoulder, “You love him. And he loves you. In the end, that’s more important than what happened in the past. Everyone else just has to deal with it.”

_But I killed you_ , Theo wanted to say, but he didn’t.

“Thanks,” he said instead, ducking his head, “We should get back to the table.”

“You’re okay, though, right?” Scott asked again.

“We’re not fighting, Scott,” Theo assured him.

“I meant you. Just you.”

Theo stared. “Yeah,” he said, a little bit in shock. And just like that, Scott smiled and led the way out of the bathroom, like he hadn’t just turned Theo’s world upside-down.

The bill was paid when he got back to the table, but Liam and his parents had apparently decided ice cream was in order, so Theo didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Liam about what had just happened. Instead, he ended up next to Jenna as they crossed the street and started to walk across town towards the ice cream parlor.

“Theo, honey, let me see your ring,” she said, looping her arm through his as they walked.

Theo was slightly less surprised at this. Liam’s mom had always been very nice to him for no apparent reason, but it was kind of nice, even if it was confusing. It was almost like having a mom again, actually. One that truly seemed to care about him. He dutifully held his hand out in front of her so that she could see. Still, for some reason, not really wanting to take Liam’s ring off.

“Hmm…” Jenna said as she inspected it, “My idiot son. He bought a woman’s ring and sized it on his pinky, didn’t he?”

Theo grinned and it was all the acknowledgement she needed.

“He’s lucky it looks so nice on you,” she decided, smiling at him. “You know, I almost thought he meant to give me Hayden as a daughter-in-law.” Theo tensed, but she squeezed his arm lightly, shooting him her radiant smile again. It looked exactly like Liam’s. “She’s a nice girl, but I definitely prefer you.”

Theo frowned in confusion again and looked at her. “Why?”

She shrugged. “I just like you, Theo,” she told him brightly, “Shut up and take it for the compliment it is.”

Theo couldn’t help smiling.

He ended up next to Liam again at the ice cream parlor, trying not to stare too much as Liam did that totally awkward thing that he always did when he ate ice cream where it looked like he was going down on someone with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm. Nobody’s tongue, Theo thought, should work that hard at eating ice cream, but _fuck_ if it wasn’t stupidly hot.

“I can’t believe you guys rented us an apartment,” Liam said, pulling his chair closer to Theo’s.

“Hey, if it keeps you closer to the pack and the family and that’s something you want,” Scott said, “Then it’s worth it.”

“Liam, quit it with the ice cream, you’re making me jealous,” Theo smirked as Liam licked a wide stripe up the side of the ice cream.

It was worth it just to see Liam’s entire face turn pink, but then he held his cone out to Theo. “Try some, then,” he told him.

“Not what I meant, Buttercup,” Theo told him, leaning in to lick from the cone anyways.

“I know,” Liam rolled his eyes, “Now let me taste yours.”

Theo stared for a second before his brain caught up. His _ice cream_ , obviously. He wordlessly handed his cone over, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t blushing, which didn’t work very well when Liam’s hand closed over his to hold the cone steady.

He looked around at the others. Jenna was sitting watching them with her chin in her hand and a smile on her lips, David was taking a picture on his phone, and Scott had a similarly dopey grin to Liam’s mom.

“I always hoped it would be you two,” Jenna told them with a soft sigh.

Theo didn’t talk to Liam about what had happened before they went to bed. Things were easier than he expected and it wasn’t even his last thought as he fell off to sleep. The reality was, he had graduated. He was no longer a college student. He had his entire life ahead of him and something to do with it. And _that_ …that was amazing.


	5. The Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously don't know how I'm writing this so fast (it seems fast to me anyways) but I'm super excited about this fic. A lot of it is probably due to ThiamHarpy giving me so many amazing ideas (Thanks btw!!!)! Guys, this is going to be a long fic, probably. Just so you know! :D
> 
> Enjoy!

It wasn’t until Theo woke up the next morning, only about half of his things packed up to move out, that he realized he had to spend five hours alone in the car with Liam. The only other time that they had been alone since Liam had proposed, Theo had lashed out at Liam in a pretty shitty way. But, he supposed, they had a lot to talk about.

He flipped over, still craving a few more hours of sleep, even though he knew he had a few hours of packing ahead of him. He had been putting it off. College had been good for him. It had been nice to learn how to be a person again, away from Scott’s pack, only really having to share Liam with Hayden. He hadn’t really liked the idea of going back to Beacon Hills. He wasn’t entirely against it, but it wasn’t exactly what he would have chosen to do. If he could, he thought, he would have liked to travel for a little while first and then settle down wherever Liam happened to be. The rest he didn’t care so much about.

He could hear Liam and Mason and Corey moving around in the other rooms, already getting the rest of their things together. Mason and Corey would have to leave soon to head back to school, and Theo didn’t know if he preferred to say goodbye and have to see Corey’s concerned face that just made him feel totally like shit again, or if he dared to go back to sleep and risk both of their wrath at their graduation the next weekend. He should probably get up.

Theo rolled onto his side to check the time on his phone and saw text from Hayden. He had always known that he would have to be the one to talk to her about what had happened at the picnic, and clearly it had to be before he went back to Beacon Hills and Hayden went back to Arizona, but it hadn’t really connected in his mind that he would have to go through that so soon.

_Come over before you leave. We need to talk._

As usual, he couldn’t tell if Hayden was mad. Things could go either way with her, really. But he owed it to Liam to talk to her. And to Hayden. It had been his idea for Liam to propose to him and for once he had to be the one to bear the consequences of his actions. God, how did Scott’s incorruptible pack do it all the time? Having a moral conscience was exhausting.

He pushed himself out of bed and set to packing up his room before he even went to the bathroom. Dedicated, it took all of ten minutes.

“Where are you going?” Liam asked as he made a beeline to the door, sneakers shoved haphazardly onto his feet, phone shoved into his pocket.

“To talk to Hayden. I’ll be back in less than an hour. Hopefully. Definitely before Mason and Corey leave,” Theo explained over his shoulder. He wasn’t going to stop to talk to Liam about this.

Corey poked his head out of the kitchen. “Theo – “

“Be right back!” he promised, making his escape and dodging down the hallway towards the stairs. He wasn’t running away from his problems. He wasn’t. Actually, it was probably more like he was running towards them. This was _not_ going to be fun.

“What the hell, Theo?” were the first words out of Hayden’s mouth when she answered the door.

“You dumped him seconds before he was going to propose,” Theo pointed out as he pushed past her into her apartment, “What was I supposed to do?”

“Um, maybe not get engaged to him yourself,” she snapped, closing the door behind him, “You could have just let him deal with it. He is actually an adult, even if he doesn’t act like it sometimes.”

“Yeah, because that’s exactly what anybody wants. To be surrounded by your best friends who are expecting you to get engaged and then have to tell them all that you actually just got dumped instead,” he caught the hurt look in Hayden’s eyes. “You still like him,” he realized.

“Of course, I like him,” she frowned, “I just…don’t want to marry him. And I don’t think I ever will.”

“You broke up with him because you like him?” Theo asked, fully in over his head in confusion now.

“I broke up with him because we’re not in love with each other,” she said, moving to the sofa and sitting down. Theo followed. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love him, but…we’re not in love, and I – “ she sniffed and blinked at the ceiling before steeling herself, “God, I can’t believe you’re doing this for him.” She looked at Theo. “Tell me, how much does it hurt?”

He stared at her. Of course, she knew. She had probably always known. Liam had been her boyfriend for four years now and an entire year back in high school too. “About the same as it always has,” he shrugged.

“I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry,” she rolled her eyes.

“About me being in love with Liam or about the fact that we’re faking our engagement?” Theo asked maybe a little too casually. He knew that Hayden could hear his heart pounding. He had never used to have this problem before. He always used to have such good control over his heart, but now, if Liam ever had anything to do with it, his heart was uncontrollable.

“Both, I guess. But this doesn’t mean that I’m not still totally pissed at both of you! What the hell am I supposed to tell the pack?” she reminded him.

“Look, I didn’t exactly think this through, okay?” Theo admitted, “It just sort of happened!”

“Theo, this is my ex boyfriend! We dated for four years! Can you at least pretend to remember that my feelings have something to do with this?” she cried.

“It’s not like you’re going to be in Beacon Hills – “

“Yes, I am!” Hayden said, a fire in her eyes, “So you better help me figure this shit out! I don’t mind lying to the pack, but I don’t want you making me look like the bitch who dumped Liam for no reason!”

“Why do I have to figure it out?” he pressed, “Wait, you’re moving back to Beacon Hills too?”

“Because you started it,” she insisted, “And yes. The town has calmed down enough Val thinks we can be okay there. And she makes way more money with Stilinski than she’s been making the past five years. You’re not the only one who has a pack there.”

“I don’t have a pack there,” Theo said reflexively, “And I didn’t start this.”

“Fine, Liam did when he decided it would be a good idea to propose to me in front of everyone without ever talking to me about marriage,” she sighed, “Happy?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Theo sighed, “and I won’t make you look bad, don’t worry.”

Hayden looked deeply concerned for a minute. “You’re really pathetic,” she informed him.

“Trust me, I know,” he agreed. “What should I tell Liam?”

“Just…” she tangled a hand at the roots of her perfect hair, a pinched expression coming onto her face. “I need space. Do you think you could not tell him that I’m coming back to Beacon Hills?”

“No,” Theo said honestly and unmovingly, “Because he’ll find out and he’ll know that I knew and I’m not dealing with that on top of everything else. Can I go? I promised Mason and Corey I’d be back before they left.”

“Fine,” she snapped, not looking much happier than she had when she had answered the door. Theo felt a little bad, but not bad enough to dig himself into that hole.

“I’ll tell him to give you space,” he assured her on his way out the door. Hayden slammed it closed behind him without another word.

Theo made it back in time to say goodbye to Mason and Corey and to eat two of the doughnuts that Liam’s parents had brought them for breakfast before packing up the rest of his things and starting to load up his truck and David’s car. It took a little longer than expected, but they got lunch and then carefully slid into their packed cars and started the journey home.

The first hour or so was easier and more comfortable than things had been between them since Liam had proposed, and maybe even before then. Theo hated to have to break it, but there were things that they had to talk about before they got to Beacon Hills, and Theo could almost guarantee that Liam wouldn’t bring any of them up.

He ran his finger across the smooth metal of the band on his left pinky and then brought his right hand back to the wheel. “You want to talk about what happened at lunch yesterday?” he asked, risking a glance at Liam before directing his eyes back to the road.

“No,” Liam grunted, embarrassed and already aggressive.

“Tough,” Theo told him, “If you don’t want to kiss me, just say it. That way I at least know to figure out a way to get us out of it consistently.”

“It’s fine,” Liam said quickly, “Not that I _want_ to kiss you, but…it’s fine.”

Theo rolled his eyes as much as he could while driving. “I’m serious, Liam. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me.”

“No, it’s…it’s okay. You can kiss me,” he replied, and Theo didn’t have to look to know that Liam was blushing profusely. He smiled. “What about you though?”

“I’m fine,” Theo said with as much finality as he could muster, “Don’t worry about me.”

“Cause that’s normal,” Liam snorted.

“Are you mad that I made you do it?” Theo wondered.

“Propose to you? It was a good idea, actually,” Liam admitted, “Except, you know, my track record with PDA and now we have to trick the entire pack and my parents who just rented us an apartment, but besides that, it’s great.”

Theo grinned. “Who the fuck rents their kid and his fiancé an apartment?” he asked.

“Right?” Liam agreed, good-naturedly.

“But, um…you might have a point about the PDA…Scott kind of followed me into the bathroom to make sure I was okay and he thought that we might be fighting because we weren’t all over each other.”

“Oh,” Liam said, “…He wanted to make sure you were okay?”

“That _we_ were okay,” Theo corrected quickly, suddenly weirdly embarrassed about making it seem like someone cared about him for him. Scott probably only cared about Theo because he thought he was engaged to Liam anyways.

“Oh,” Liam repeated, “Uh…we should probably be more…couple-ey in front of people, shouldn’t we?”

“We can try to figure something out if you don’t want to,” Theo shrugged, trying to ignore how fast his heart was beating. He could feel Liam’s blue eyes fixed on him. “But we _did_ just get engaged, so…”

“It’s fine,” Liam said again. Theo was starting to feel like the word “fine” was starting to take on some sort of new meaning between them. It would have been helpful to know what that meaning was. “We can totally do it.”

“Hell yeah,” Theo agreed with a small smile, holding a fist out for Liam to bump. He didn’t.

“You have to stop with the bro fist,” Liam informed him.

“What? Why?”

“Because engaged people don’t do that. They like hold hands and stuff,” Liam replied.

Theo rolled his eyes and reached out to grab Liam’s hand without looking away from the road, lacing their fingers together. “Just for the record, I would still fist bump someone I was engaged to,” Theo said, taking another glance at Liam. His face was turned towards the window, but his ears were pink and Theo could just see the edge of a smile on his lips. He felt his own smile grow and then had to bring his eyes back to the road to keep the car from swerving any more into the next lane.

“What did Hayden say?” Liam asked after a minute.

Theo sighed and slid his hand out of Liam’s to bring it back to the steering wheel. “She’s kind of mad,” Theo admitted. She hadn’t said as much, but Theo was good at reading people in general and Hayden wasn’t that hard to read. “But she and Valerie and Tom are moving back to Beacon Hills.”

Liam didn’t say anything, but the atmosphere inside the truck had dropped significantly.

“I think maybe you should give her some space for a while,” he told Liam.

“Oh, that’s what you think?” Liam snapped hotly, “Because Theo Raeken is so fucking good at relationships.”

Theo might have been offended by this years ago, but it tended to be the same exact argument every time they talked about Hayden and Liam always smelt of rotting guilt minutes afterwards.

“That’s what she told me to tell you,” he replied evenly.

“Well why the fuck can’t she just tell _me_?” Liam retorted.

“Because she wants space, Liam!” Theo told him.

He could feel Liam sink back into his seat and exhaled heavily, trying not to take in too much of the rotten scent that started to fill the car.

“Find a rest area, I need to pee,” Liam muttered.

He needed to put his fist through the wall, more likely, Theo thought. He just hoped that it would diffuse Liam’s anger instead of riling him up. He pulled off the highway at the next rest area, getting out of the car and nodding when Liam told him not to go too far. He still didn’t entirely get why, but they had known for a while that he was Liam’s anchor. He might be able to set him off more easily than anyone else could, but nobody could bring him back as fast either. Scott and Stiles had tried everything they could think of to help Liam anchor himself, even Derek had exhausted his methods of anchoring a werewolf, but a few words from Theo, and Liam came back down from homicidal in no time at all. There was still anger, of course, there always would be, but it was different. It was manageable. Deaton thought that the IED might be keeping Liam from being able to find an internal anchor and instead pushed him to find an external one.

So Theo didn’t go far, knowing that Liam could hear his heartbeat and his voice, and pick out his smell. It didn’t help for Theo to be too close to him when they fought, but it was worse if he left entirely. Instead, he went into the little convenience store attached to the gas station, and picked out some road snacks to hopefully cover the stench of guilt and anger that couldn’t be soothed even by the clear smell of apology.

“Do you seriously have to eat those?” Liam complained as Theo opened the bag of corn nuts, making his way towards the ramp that led back onto the highway. “They smell disgusting.”

“Don’t worry, I got your gross-ass Twizzlers too,” Theo told him, tossing the pack into Liam’s lap.

“I will never understand how Corn Nuts are okay to you but Twizzlers are gross,” Liam told him.

And for the rest of the ride, things fell more or less back to normal.

The sun was already low in the sky when they pulled into Liam’s driveway. Theo was a little nervous. He had lived with Derek in high school and over the summers, but apparently now that he and Liam were “engaged”, they both had to stay with his parents until the lease on the new apartment started. It was only a week, but…

Theo stopped in the doorway to Liam’s childhood room.

“You can come in, you know,” Liam told him over his shoulder.

Theo had been in his room before, but not like this. Not with the knowledge that he would be sleeping there, with his things mixed together with Liam’s. Sleeping next to him in a full bed…

He went in, looking for somewhere to drop his bag. “Which side is yours?” he asked.

“Uh…this one,” Liam crossed to the side away from the windows and Theo dropped his things on the other side.

He looked around, taking in the lacrosse paraphernalia, the history text books that Liam hadn’t sold back but hadn’t taken to school with him. The pictures of him and Mason when they were five and when they were seven and when they were twelve, all the way up through high school and even one or two from college.

“We can play tonight, if you want,” Liam suggested, when Theo’s eyes found the xbox.

“Yeah,” Theo agreed, “I think your dad’s about to call us down for dinner though.”

Liam cocked his head in the most adorable way and then nodded as David called “dinner’s ready!” up the stairs.

They made their way out of the room, Theo taking Liam’s hand on their way down the stairs. Liam looked back at him in surprise and Theo could hear his heart racing, but neither of them said anything.

All four of them were tired enough for dinner to be a pretty quiet affair, Jenna and David going up to bed not long after Liam and Theo finished the dishes. By the time they made it into Liam’s room, the door closed softly behind them, Theo had no energy for videogames.

Liam collapsed onto his side of the bed. “I’m old,” he complained, “It’s barely even midnight. I used to stay up playing video games with Mason until like 3am.”

“It’s been kind of a long week,” Theo reassured him, stripping his shirt off over his head, aware of Liam’s eyes purposefully not on him, “Sleep in. I can kick your ass tomorrow instead.”

“As if,” Liam yawned, crawling under the covers and turning off the light as Theo did the same.

They were very close. Theo couldn’t move without touching Liam in some way and Liam moved around a lot as he tried to find a comfortable position.

“What the hell are you doing?” Theo whispered through the dark.

“Trying to get comfortable. You take up too much room.”

“I don’t think this bed was made for two people,” Theo told him, “just deal with it.”

“It was fine with me and Hayden,” Liam pointed out, as if Theo really wanted to know that.

“Well, yeah. But knowing you, the two of you were probably practically on top of each other.”

Liam didn’t answer but flopped around some more.

“Holy shit, you’re annoying,” Theo muttered under his breath, reaching out and pulling Liam close to him, refusing to name it as cuddling.

“Theo –“

“Just please go to sleep, Liam,” he sighed into his hair.

“Okay,” Liam squeaked.

The room fell silent, but Liam’s breathing didn’t even out for a long time. It wasn’t until Theo himself was on the verge of sleep that he noticed that Liam had fallen asleep as well. It was a little too nice.


	6. The Road Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter seems a little bit of a mess. I have no excuse. I just wanted to post and I can only edit things for so long, so bear with me (for about 3.5k of pretty much nothing important :D )!
> 
> Enjoy!

The was not surprised when he woke up before Liam. He had a feeling that Liam hadn’t been sleeping well lately. He was, however, a little surprised to find that he and Liam were still tangled together. Logic would say that they would each gravitate back towards their own sides of the bed as they slept, but whether it was due to the size of the bed or some random circumstance of fate, Liam was still nestled deep in Theo’s arms, mouth just inches away from him, breathing his charmingly gross morning breath into Theo’s face. He couldn’t help but smile fondly.

The door creaked open and Jenna poked her head in. Theo fought the urge to jump away from Liam and instead lifted a lazy hand in silent greeting.

“Is he still sleeping?” she whispered, knowing that Theo would hear it across the room.

He nodded enough so that she could see, but not enough to wake Liam.

Jenna smiled warmly. “Well David’s making breakfast, but you can just come down whenever you want. We can reheat it for you too, so no rush.”

He gave her a thumbs up and she disappeared, closing the door silently.

Theo gave himself one more minute, allowing himself a second to just breath in Liam’s scent before unravelling from around him as stealthily as possible. It was a little tricky, Liam not seeming to want to lose Theo’s warmth. Still sleeping, he followed Theo across his side of the bed, snuggling cozily into Theo’s pillow as Theo took his shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head, padding across the room and taking one last fond look at Liam’s sleeping form before stepping out into the sunny hallway and crossing the hall to the bathroom.

The whole house smelled like bacon when Theo finally made his way downstairs. He paused at the doorway to the kitchen, grinning as he watched Jenna and David singing and dancing as they filled plates with bacon and eggs and sausages.

“ _Man, I feel like a woman!”_ David sang, laughing as Jenna swatted at his butt with an oven glove, and then nearly dropped the plate of bacon.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Theo told him with a wide grin.

Jenna laughed brightly and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the kitchen and pulling at his arms until he started dancing with her, dodging around to add coffee to the machine and then shimmying back towards Jenna and David, all concerns and inhibitions somehow vanishing in the warm morning light of the Geyers’ kitchen.

“ _The best thing about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun!_ ” He took Jenna’s hand and spun her under his arm before guiding her back to David so that he could take the bowl of eggs from the counter to the kitchen table.

“You fit right into this family,” David told him with a laugh as Jenna turned the radio down and they settled in to eat their breakfast.

Theo felt himself blush and twisted his ring on his finger. The rush of dancing around a kitchen with people who might almost feel like parents sunk into something a little lonlier. “I’m glad you guys think I’m worth inviting in,” he said, not realizing how pathetic it sounded until it was out of his mouth.

“Oh, honey,” Jenna said, sliding his coffee in front of him, “If you ever say something that self-deprecating again and mean it, we’re going to have to have a long, long talk and maybe a spa day.”

Theo snorted and took a sip of the perfectly doctored coffee.

“Oh, David, you should have seen how cute those boys were all cuddled up this morning,” Jenna told her husband, cooing fondly.

“Jen, Babe, I told you not to go in without knocking,” David reprimanded with more of a fond smile than anything. Theo had a feeling that he looked at Liam like that sometimes, but he hoped it wasn’t that obvious.

“Well, I didn’t want to wake them up,” she said, happily filling her plate.

“What if they were already awake? Doing… _things_?” He replied, raising his eyebrows significantly.

“You can say sex, David, it’s okay,” Jenna grinned, patting his arm.

“When do you think Liam will be up?” David asked, abruptly changing the conversation, “My money’s on noon.”

“Oh!” Jenna jumped at the bet, “How much are we talking?”

“Let’s stick to five dollars and not scare away our son-in-law-to-be,” David laughed.

“Fine. Put me down for eleven,” she told him. David actually got out his phone and started a new note.

“You sure you want to bet that early?” he asked her.

“I’m his mother, aren’t I?” she asked with a dignified sniff.

“Yes dear,” David said obligingly, “Theo?”

“What time is it now?” he asked.

“Ten fourteen.”

He thought about the dark circles under Liam’s eyes, how he hadn’t slept in the car yesterday, but had been so deeply asleep when Theo had woken up. He had almost been able to _feel_ Liam recharging. “Two o’clock,” he said, earning a low whistle from Liam’s step-father, even as he put the time into his phone, and an interested look from Liam’s mother.

“That’s pretty late,” she said.

“I have insider information,” Theo said secretively, rocking back in his chair and taking another sip of coffee.

“He means he kept Liam up late last night doing The Sex,” David told Jenna teasingly.

Theo fell back onto all four legs of his chair, grabbing at his napkin as he choked on his coffee to Jenna and David’s merciless laughter.

Liam woke up at 1:57 in the afternoon, but Theo still made ten dollars. He didn’t even really care about winning when he saw Liam shuffle into the kitchen as he was finishing his lunch, blearily starting the coffee machine back up.

“Afternoon, Buttercup,” he smirked across the kitchen at him.

“Why ‘Buttercup’?” he asked, he voice still a little deeper and thick from sleep.

“Because you light up my life,” Theo told him brightly, with just an edge of sarcasm, sweeping around Liam to load his plate into the dishwasher. “Sleep well?” he asked.

Liam nodded, stretching as he watched the machine gurgle, his sleep shirt riding up to reveal a tantalizing bit of skin.

“I know you probably want to wait until Mason and Corey are back to have your engagement party,” Jenna said as she came into the kitchen, “But I was thinking we can probably start planning it this week so that we can get the word out as fast as possible.”

Liam and Theo looked at each other in surprise.

“I don’t think we’re going to have one,” Liam told his mother.

“And _why_ not?” Jenna asked, hands going to her hips, eyes blazing in just the same way that Liam’s so often did. “Liam Eugene Dunbar.” Theo slid in behind Liam, aware, even with his totally lacking childhood, of the power behind middle-naming someone. “You are my only child, which means I only get to do this once, and if you think you can deprive me of a single aspect of celebrating my baby’s wedding, then you’re out of your mind!”

“We’ll think about it,” Theo said meekly, slipping his hands onto Liam’s waist and tapping lightly at his sides, reminding him to anchor his rising anger into a different emotion. “ _She loves you,_ ” he breathed so that only Liam could hear, and was rewarded with the slow relaxation of Liam’s tense muscles.

The week went by much faster than Theo had been expecting. Being around Liam and his parents felt disturbingly natural and Theo had to ignore the niggling reminder in his brain that he would lose it all one day, just to retain his own sanity. Jenna bothered them about the engagement party until she suddenly wasn’t anymore, David and Theo bonded over cooking and rolling their eyes, and Liam and Theo played a lot of video games and lacrosse between Theo applying for jobs and Liam hanging out with the rest of the pack. At night, they would fall asleep close together and in the morning they would wake up closer, looser, and not talking about it.

They woke up early on Thursday morning, overnight bags packed, waiting for Scott and Malia to arrive for their carpool down to UCLA.

“I got you some light reading for your trip,” Jenna said cheerfully as they sat down at the breakfast table, dropping a huge book in front of them.

“What the hell is this?” Liam asked skeptically.

“It’s a wedding binder,” Jenna explained, flipping it open, “It has ideas and tips and then places where you can make lists of things you like or want to have at your wedding…”

The book had to be close to a thousand pages and about the length and width of a coffee table book. “How much did this cost?” Theo asked, feeling Liam look at him suddenly with a somewhat guilty expression.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jenna told them, “I’ve been married twice, and I couldn’t have had a wedding either time without this book.”

“I can’t – “ Theo started to say before he realized that he probably shouldn’t. He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t trick Jenna and David, it wasn’t fair. And he couldn’t let himself be treated like family only to have that ripped away. This wasn’t fair to anyone here.

“You _can_ take it and you _will_ ,” Jenna told him as the doorbell rang. She got up to answer it, and Liam scurried away to get their bags. Coward.

Theo pulled out his phone and debated for a while about texting Corey. But Corey was graduating, and Theo needed to let him have that. Instead he texted Cecily.

_In your weird online story, say one of your characters realized that he made a huge mistake and he couldn’t pretend to marry his best friend any more. What does he do then?_

Send.

As usual, three dots appeared with no hesitation. Cecily had no qualms about texting back right away. Theo had rolled his eyes at enough conversations about the proper wait time for texting back before he had met Cecily.

_Are you shitting me?_

_You’re just realizing this now?_

_Theodore._

_I love you, but you need to get your shit together._

_I’m not telling you what to do._

Theo snorted and rolled his eyes, scooping the giant book from the table as he made his way to the front door where Scott and Jenna were whispering to each other and Liam was banging down the stairs with his and Theo’s bags.

 _Fantastic advice. I’m so glad I asked you._ He texted back. If he was honest, he was kind of glad he had texted her. He knew already that Corey would have made a hard push to talk him out of it, but the moment of panic was over. He was a good actor and he had the constant motivation to do it right every time he looked at Liam. He could do this right. He just had to try not to get too attached. And anyways, he and Liam were close enough that they could survive this and still be friends. Probably.

“You guys ready?” Scott grinned at them as Theo took the bags from Liam to carry out to the car, “I booked us all rooms at a bed and breakfast near campus. It looks really romantic!” He waggled his eyebrows cheerfully, gave Jenna a hug and then led them out to the car, where Malia was waiting.

“No kids?” Liam asked tentatively.

“Nope!” Scott said, “We dropped them off with my mom and Argent. They’re really excited to spend the weekend with their grandparents.”

“It’s an adults-only holiday,” Malia told them, sounding simultaneously relieved and annoyed, “Which apparently means we have to go on like a billion awkward double dates.”

Scott closed his door and started buckling his seat belt, and Theo suddenly felt a little claustrophobic. It was seven hours to LA on a good day.

“They’re not going to be awkward,” he assured her, twisting around in his seat to look back at Theo and Liam with a beaming smile. “Now we can actually talk properly! I want to hear all about how you guys got together. And we have seven hours, so don’t skimp on the details!”

Theo had changed his mind. Tara ripping out his heart wasn’t hell. This was.

For the next seven hours, Theo did what had always come very naturally to him: he lied out his ass. The trick to fooling werewolf lie-detectors was to keep a thread of truth in everything he said. He had fooled a human one the same way when he was ten. What was surprising was that Liam had no problem keeping up with the lies. There wasn’t a single indication of a lie in anything he said, but Theo knew they weren’t true. He had no idea where Liam had picked that up.

Hayden had been just a friend for a while, they said. They spent so much time together it was only natural feelings should develop beyond friendship. They had both known that they liked each other for a long time and finally something just snapped and they were kissing. They kept the relationship quiet because they weren’t sure how people would react. But they were important to each other. They wanted to take the next step. They wanted the pack to be happy for them.

Scott ate it all up and Malia wrinkled her nose in the rearview mirror and Liam easily turned the conversation back to their kids, ensuring the two of them a few hours safe from cross-examination.

“Have you guys thought about having kids?” Scott asked, poking his head over the back of his seat again as they entered Los Angeles inch by inch. Theo didn’t know how he could stand to do it every few seconds and not get carsick.

Already, he was leaning heavily against Liam, the window cracked, as Liam pushed his hair back out of his face over and over so that he was basically running his hands through his hair. Theo had been terrible with long car rides since he was very young. Even now he would prefer to drive everywhere if he could. Unfortunately, he was also trying to get in good with the pack, and he knew that Malia really preferred to be driving, maybe even more than Theo did, if for different reasons.

“Uhh,” Liam’s hand stilled in Theo’s hair and Theo could have sworn he didn’t butt up into it, but it magically started to move again, so maybe he wasn’t as good at reigning in his impulses as he had thought. “We haven’t talked about it that much.”

 “It’s not for everyone,” Malia said unexpectedly, “but having kids is the best choice I ever made.”

Theo felt his heart clench. He had never given himself the luxury to think about it, but hearing Malia, the werecoyote, whose biological parents were Peter Hale and the desert wolf, talk about her kids like they had hung the stars in the sky made him feel like maybe, if he could be good enough, if he could revert completely from the admittedly horrible things he had done, if he could ever learn to trust himself with something so precious, maybe then he might want that for himself.

“Maybe one day,” Liam said casually, “But not today.” And somehow that was enough. It was all Theo could do to keep from dropping his head tiredly onto Liam’s shoulder.

They went straight to the bed and breakfast, Liam texting Mason that they would meet up with them tomorrow since everyone was exhausted from the ride. Theo’s head was pounding as they unloaded the car. Liam took his bag with one hand and Theo’s hand with the other. Instantly the pain started to dull, which, really, was just another depressing example of how stupidly head-over-heels Theo was.

He was in a bit of a daze, still feeling the remainders of a headache and the uncomfortable roiling in his stomach as they checked in and made their way up to their rooms.

“Want to grab some dinner or should we wait for the others?” Scott asked as they paused outside their neighboring doors, “Stiles says they should be here in half an hour maybe.”

“I think we’re just going to get take out or order delivery or something,” Liam said. Theo looked at him questioningly, but Liam just smiled at him.

“Yeah, sure!” Scott grinned, “Have a good night guys. See you in the morning!”

They said goodnight and Theo unlocked the door to their room. It was nice. A little small, but very homey and clean, with an attached bathroom that had white tile floors, fluffy-looking towels, and a huge soaking tub.

Liam disappeared into the bathroom, releasing Theo’s hand for the first time since they’d gotten out of the car. Theo tossed his overnight bag onto the floor and collapsed onto the bed, which squeaked slightly, the bars of the iron headboard rattling against the wall behind them. The mattress was actually incredibly comfortable, and Theo might have fallen asleep right there on top of the flowery quilt if his headache hadn’t come back with a vengeance.

The toilet flushed and then the water ran. And then even more water ran. Theo cracked an eye open and pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Liam?” he called.

The bathroom door opened, and Liam came back into the room. “I guess we’re not going to get away with two beds for a while, are we?” he asked, looking at Theo contemplatively, “I just started the bath for you. Use a lot of bubbles. I’ll be back with food.”

Theo couldn’t think of anything to say before Liam grabbed his wallet and left again, so he just watched him disappear. The water was still running loudly in the bathroom, so Theo pulled himself up to investigate. The bathroom was already humid from the rapidly rising water and Theo shrugged. So far sitting around hadn’t helped, but if the bath was already running, he might as well try it.

He swung the door mostly closed, sure he would be done before Liam got back, dumped some of the soap on the ledge into the running water, and stripped. Initially the water was burning hot, but he quickly got used to it, sinking low so that the water reached his chin as he turned the tap off. He felt better already.

A soft rap at the door woke him up.

“Theo?” Liam’s voice asked, “I got soup from a place down the street if you’re hungry.”

Theo sat up quickly, swearing as some of the water sloshed out of the tub.

“Yeah!” he said quickly, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

He pulled the plug out of the bottom of the tub and climbed out, crossing the bathroom to the stack of towels and wiping the bubbles off of himself before wrapping the towel around his waist and realizing that all of his clothes were still in the bedroom. It wasn’t like Liam had never seen him in just a towel before, Theo reminded himself, but when he walked out, Liam’s eyes were already focusing hard on unpacking the soup and his entire face was pink. Theo door had been open a crack, Theo remembered, feeling himself start to blush as well as he pulled underwear out of his bag and slid them on under the towel, letting it fall and pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants instead.

“Thanks for getting dinner,” he said, sitting down at the small table by the window across from Liam.

Liam smiled and Theo realized that his headache was almost completely gone. He smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Francis!!! I swear there will be kisses soon!!! Like really soon!!!


	7. The Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I did end up splitting this chapter in two because it was crazy long, but it also may seem like there's not much happening (again) since it's build up for the next chapter. Also sorry if there are mistakes or it seems like it's bouncing around kind of aimlessly. I need to properly edit it, but I really just needed to move on from this section, so please bear with me.
> 
> Enjoy!

They had forgotten to close the curtains the night before and Theo woke up to the light pouring in through the window, splashing the entire bed in golden light. Liam was snuggled into Theo’s side, his face inches away from the crook of his neck, and Theo couldn’t help but stare. Liam had always been cute, even back in high school when he looked more like an angry puppy than anything. These days he was straight up gorgeous. His hair was long, not like it had been senior year of high school, a little shorter than that, and he had finally figured out what to do with it. The baby fat had disappeared from his face, and he had shaved the beard off junior year of college, leaving exposed a strong jaw and chiseled cheekbones. He grown a little out of his stockiness too, the time that the two of them spent one-upping each other at the gym building onto his solid frame of lacrosse muscles. But then again, Theo was a little biased.

Deeming it too early to even think, Theo shut his eyes again, rolling towards Liam, draping an arm over him, and pulling him close before drifting back off to sleep.

When he woke up again, Liam had disappeared, but the bathroom door was closed and the shower was running. He groaned, remembering how he had pulled Liam back into him only hours ago. He had been half asleep, but that wasn’t okay. He couldn’t do that. They were sharing a bed for the foreseeable future, and Theo was determined not to make it awkward. Which meant that he couldn’t get too close.

He rolled over to Liam’s side of the bed, much like Liam always did when Theo got up before him, and inhaled the scent on his pillow. It was thick and comforting and Theo thought that he could have fallen back to sleep breathing it in, but the shower in the bathroom turned off and he forced himself to roll over and get out of bed. There was no time for dreaming.

They met the others down at breakfast; Scott, Malia, Stiles, Lydia, Derek, and Braeden, and squeezed in between Scott and Derek.

“Are you okay?” Scott asked them.

“Yeah,” Theo glanced at Liam, “Why?”

“I just thought you guys would be…last night,” he said, causing Stiles to protest loudly and Malia to burst out in undignified laughter.

“Theo had a headache from the car ride,” Liam explained, face turning pink.

Theo looked at him. He had never said a word, but it kind of made sense now, Liam pushing Theo’s hair back during the car ride, holding his hand all the way up to their room. He had been taking his pain the whole time and Theo hadn’t even noticed. It explained the bath and the soup too.

“Don’t worry, Scott,” Theo assured him, “We still love each other.” _I still love him,_ was the truth beneath the statement. And he probably always would.

“I know,” Scott assured him quickly, “I’m just…really happy for you guys. I want everything to go well.”

“Well I don’t fucking get it,” Stiles said.

“That’s because you’re an idiot,” Derek informed him, easily silencing the coming rant that would surely have made for an awkward breakfast.

“So what are we doing today?” Lydia asked, “I know we’re meeting up with Corey and Mason at some point, but what should we do the rest of the day?”

Scott and Stiles looked at each other and grinned widely. “Laser tag!” They agreed and high-fived.

“I love laser tag,” Braeden smirked at them over her breakfast.

“Uh…” Stiles said, face falling, “Maybe we should just go see a movie or something.”

Derek snorted.

The other members of the pack carried on bickering until the food was long gone from the table and it was nearly time to meet Mason and Corey.

“I’m going to grab my sunglasses from the room,” Theo told Liam as he stood up, “You need anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Liam said with an easy smile.

Theo noticed Scott’s eyes on them and darted in for a quick kiss. His heartrate skyrocketed, and he was sure any minute that Liam would hit him, but they both seemed too shocked for that. Liam’s lips were just as soft as they had been the last time, and even with the merest brush of lips, Theo’s eyes flickered close. Time seemed to suspend around them, and just as he was about to pull away, Liam’s hand fisted into the side of his shirt, holding him in place. He didn’t move other than that, their noses still brushing, lips touching lightly. Theo was sure, in the back of his dazed brain, that it looked weird. As if that was reasoning enough, he pressed closer to Liam, moving his lips enough to catch Liam’s top one, feeling Liam’s lips open and close against his in a silent gasp before pulling away.

“I’ll be right back,” he told a stunned-looking Liam, gently easing his hand from its grip on his shirt, and making his escape from the breakfast room and back up the stairs.

“ _Shit! Shit! Shit!_ ” he chanted under his breath, fingers gripping tightly into his hair. His blood was pumping loudly in his ears and he felt a little light-headed in the best possible way. But none of that was a good thing. “Sunglasses,” he reminded himself, trying desperately to get himself back under control.

They were sitting on top of the thick-ass wedding planner on Liam’s bedside table for some reason, because of course they were. The entire world was continually trying to warn Theo what a bad idea this was.

“As if I don’t already know,” he muttered under his breath, “As if I even have a choice.”

He grabbed the sunglasses and left the room, the planner still sitting innocently on the nightstand.

“Hey,” Liam blushed when Theo met them all in the lobby on their way out the front door.

“Hey,” Theo replied, unsure how to act around Liam now. They had kissed twice. And neither time, Theo had wanted to pull away. But both times Theo had been the first to pull away. His head was a fucking mess.

Liam held out his hand again, fingers stretched expectantly, and Theo took it, smiling faintly. Fuck it. His brain could get as confused as it wanted. He would deal with it later.

Even though they had done hardly anything since eating breakfast, the pack made their way across town to a pizza place to meet Mason and Corey for lunch. The walk was long but nice and Theo was eventually able to relax, realizing that nothing had really changed between him and Liam after all except their proximity to each other. They could still push and prod and tease, but whenever one of them pushed away, the other would pull him back.

“So,” Lydia said, dropping back to join them, linking an arm through Liam’s, “What’s this I hear about not wanting to have an engagement party?”

Theo sighed. It was one thing to have Jenna and Scott working against them, but Lydia was another thing entirely. Even in his ill-advised attempt to pull the McCall pack apart, he had tried to avoid Lydia as much as he could. She was a force to be reckoned with. He was a little surprised actually, that she didn’t seem to have figured out that the entire relationship was fake yet.

“Everybody already knows we’re engaged,” Liam pointed out.

“Yeah,” Theo agreed, “We got to celebrate at Graduation.”

“Nice try,” Lydia told them, “Now that the excuses are out of the way, you need to let me know if there’s anything that you want or don’t want at the party that Scott and your mom are throwing when we get back so that I can run intervention.”

They looked at each other. “Um…” Theo said, “We don’t want a party.”

Lydia patted Liam’s arm gently and smiled at Theo. “You don’t exactly have a choice, Sweetheart,” she told him, “Let me help you plan this and your wedding and I’ll make sure everything is the way you want it.”

It wasn’t that Theo didn’t trust Lydia, but there was a certain gleam in her eye that told him that there was something more to what she was saying. Thinking about it, he realized that might actually help them.

“I’m okay with that,” he agreed, and looked at Liam, who nodded.

“Perfect,” Lydia said happily, “I’m thinking for the engagement party we’re going to need a lot of alcohol and…”

The conversation with Lydia thankfully didn’t last too much longer, but all of the preparations that went into planning a wedding had his head spinning and by the time they met Mason and Corey outside the pizza shop, he was happy to see their judgmental looks.

_You look like shit,_ Corey texted from across the table.

_Don’t worry about it,_ Theo replied quickly, letting Liam squish him into the corner of the booth.

_Too late,_ Corey replied.

“Apparently we’re having an engagement party,” he told Mason and Corey, who looked at him curiously, “But Lydia’s planning it, so we’ll be _fine_.” He held Corey’s eyes, insisting silently that nothing was wrong.

They looked at each other. “Sure,” Mason agreed, “That sounds fun. With the whole pack?”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed, “When we’re all back in Beacon Hills this week.”

_We’ll talk later,_ Corey texted.

Theo rolled his eyes and didn’t reply as the conversation opened to the rest of the pack.

_Later,_ Theo found out, apparently meant dead in the middle of a laser tag game, when Corey followed Theo up to a high, shittily guarded point and watched his back for him while he sniped the other team.

“So an engagement party?” Corey asked, “How long is this going to go on?”

“The game?” Theo tried, “I don’t think we get more than half an hour.”

“No,” he could hear Corey rolling his eyes in the dark behind him, “I meant your weird game of extreme gay chicken that you and Liam are playing. You know, I’ve been thinking about it, and that’s just _beyond_ fucked up.”

“It took you this long to realize that?” Theo asked, lining up his sight and taking a shot at Mason down below, jerking his head away from the whole in the wall before Mason could figure out who had caused the lights on his vest to go out.

“No, I’ve been well aware of it,” Corey told him, “But I think I’m just realizing now how stubborn you both actually are. I wouldn’t be surprised if you made it all the way down the aisle. I mean, what’s even the purpose of it anymore?”

“It goes on as long as Liam needs it to,” Theo grunted.

“As long as he needs it to or as long as he wants it to? You might not be sleeping around, but I know for a fact that Liam wants to get back with Hayden and what if he finds somebody else?” Corey pressed.

Theo tried to send him his darkest glare, but it wasn’t light enough for Corey to be able to see. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of any of this before, but it was different to hear somebody else say it.

“You get to be happy too,” Corey told him.

“No,” Theo sniped at Stiles this time, and badly, dodging out of the window before he had finished his shot. “This pack doesn’t owe me anything. It’s the other way around. I let you die, and I would have killed you again if you had given me the chance.”

“That was five years ago,” Corey argued hotly, “You don’t do that anymore. You just graduated college with an art degree. You’re wearing an engagement ring and you’re about to have an apartment of your own. Some weird zombie pack is clearly not on the top of your list of priorities anymore.”

“You don’t know that,” Theo said, voice dangerously low, “You shouldn’t trust me.”

“Tough shit, Raeken,” another voice said, and the lights on his vest went out. He whirled around to see Liam’s outline, white teeth grinning at him in a Cheshire smile, “Cause we do.”

Liam, who was clearly not paying enough attention and got shot by Corey, who then slipped into the shadows.

“Seriously?” Theo asked, sitting down as he waited for his next life to recharge.

“Do you really think we don’t trust you?” Liam asked, sitting next to him so that their shoulders were brushing.

“I don’t see why you would,” Theo said, looking away, brain already trying to figure out the next move, his body not wanting to leave the warmth of Liam’s own.

“Because I know you now,” Liam said easily. Theo glanced over, but Liam wasn’t looking at him either. “You’ve been punishing yourself for almost six years. People who don’t care don’t do that.”

Theo’s vest lit up again, illuminating Liam in blue light. A minute later, Liam’s vest lit up red and Theo shot him immediately. Aside from that, he felt no urge to actually play the game.

“You suck,” Liam told him. Surprisingly, he didn’t sound that mad.

Theo shrugged. “Feel free to stay by my side. I’ll waste all of your lives,” He suggested.

“Not if I waste yours first,” Liam grinned a glowing white grin. His vest lit up and he took aim, but Theo was faster.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Liam flung himself at Theo, knocking him backwards, trying to wrestle the gun from his hands. Theo wrapped his legs around Liam’s waist, laughing madly, keeping Liam from getting anywhere with the laser gun, which, admittedly, was attached to Theo’s vest with a cord, but that fact had completely flown from his mind.

“You two! Out!” A security guard appeared above them, “There are kids in here.”

Theo and Liam stared for a minute, but then Theo release Liam, legs falling back to the ground, and they stood up, brushing themselves off and following the guard out of the arena.

“I can’t believe you got us kicked out,” Liam complained as they sat down away from a group of moms to watch their friends’ scores.

“You’re the one who tackled me!” Theo argued, “You have no self-control.”

“I have plenty of self-control,” Liam sniffed in a dignified manner that Theo assumed was supposed to ignore the fact that they had just been kicked out of a laser tag game for being too childish. He snorted in amusement. “Speaking of which, you should apologize to Corey. I don’t know what’s been going on with you, but you keep snapping at people, which is not cool because you always hit where it hurts.”

Theo looked sideways to see Liam watching him with those earnest blue eyes. “You know you have friends. Pushing us away isn’t just a shitty thing to do to yourself. We…um, care about you.” He blushed.

Theo nodded silently, but didn’t say anything. He leaned back on his hands on the wide bench, watching Braeden’s score rise steadily higher, far past any of the others. A second later, Liam leaned back too, his own pinky crossing over Theo’s, resting right over the metal band. Theo thought that his heart might actually explode this time, but just took a deep breath and reminded himself to train it back into a steady rhythm. He hadn’t known it, but it seemed as if he had been training his entire life for this: to lie to everyone he knew. Including himself.

A few minutes later, the rest of the pack came out, swearing good naturedly at Braeden. Nobody seemed to be bothered by the fact that Liam and Theo hadn’t stayed for the entire game, but most of them were amused by the story of them getting kicked out.

“We figured you had just disappeared into a dark corner somewhere,” Scott told them as everyone started to peel off towards the arcade.

Liam started to contradict him, but Theo silenced him, slipping a hand into Liam’s back pocket, causing him to still completely in shock at the hand on his ass.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Theo grinned at Scott, who nodded like he was going to continue the conversation, but Stiles called him away to play air hockey, so he simply shrugged instead and bounded over to his best friend.

Theo looked at Liam.

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed, apparently reading Theo’s mind, “We’ll talk later, but I kind of think right now you should go talk to Corey.” He motioned to where he was playing pinball alone on the other side of the room.

“Okay,” Theo agreed, already worried about the line he had potentially crossed. “But we’re talking about it later, I’m serious.”

Liam rolled his eyes and went to find Mason, who was losing terribly to Derek at the basketball game.

“Hey,” Theo said when he reached Corey, leaning against the pinball machine and watching him snap lazily at the controls. “You really suck at this.”

Corey smiled faintly at him and then turned his attention back to the game. “I know,” he said, and continued to play, Theo watching in silence, feeling the tension slowly ease out from between them.

“Sorry for snapping at you,” he told him finally.

Corey shrugged. “That’s just what you do,” he said, “It’s what you’ve always done.”

Theo considered that. He knew it was true, but he had never thought that anyone had noticed. Usually he was called ruthless and violent, but so much of that came as a gut instinct from having his choices taken away, being backed into a corner and not knowing what to do. It wasn’t a good enough excuse – no excuse existed for what he had done, but it was nice to have someone at least understand _why_.

“Still,” he told Corey, “I’m sorry.”

Corey smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, I can totally see this fic reaching close to 100k. I'm already over 20k in and I haven't even scratched the surface...  
> On another note, the rating may be going up next chapter ;)


	8. The Graduation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks ThiamHarpy for keeping me sane :D
> 
> Also I know there's a lot about Liam that is probably kind of confusing, so let me know if you want a chapter from his pov every once in a while to know what's going on with him!
> 
> Finally, I know there's not a lot of "plot" in most of these chapters right now, but things are ramping up and there will be sort of an actual plot soon, in case anyone is wondering where this is going.
> 
> Enjoy!

The rest of the day had been fine, almost even fun, but eventually Liam and Theo ended up alone in their bedroom again, and Theo knew he was going to have to come back to this conversation that they had left at the laser tag place. The walls weren’t reliably thick, so he pulled Liam into the bathroom, shut the door, and turned on the shower, just for good measure.

“Is touching your ass out of line?” he asked clearly.

Liam had looked confused as hell, but his expression quickly turned annoyed. “No,” he said, sounding frustrated.

“You can tell me,” Theo insisted, “If anything makes you uncomfortable, you need to let me know. That’s what consent is.”

“I know!” Liam gritted out.

“Then tell me what you don’t want or stop panicking every time I touch you,” Theo told him, leaning against the sink as Liam paced the tiny bathroom, a storm brewing beneath the clear blue eyes.

“You panic too!” Liam pointed out, “Do you think I haven’t noticed how your heart jumps every time I come near you?”

Theo scowled at the accuracy of the jab. “At least that can be passed off as being in love,” he pointed out, keeping his heart totally steady this time.

Liam’s frown deepened.

“Scott asks us about our sex life pretty much every time we see him. It’s weird if you act like I don’t touch your butt all the time. If you don’t want me to, just say so and it doesn’t have to look suspicious.”

“I’m fine,” Liam insisted, “I just need to get used to it.”

Theo watched him carefully and then nodded, reaching past him to turn the shower off. “You’ll tell me, right?” he asked, turning to look at Liam and realized suddenly how close his face was.

“Yeah,” Liam said, licking his lips tantalizingly, eyes boring into Theo’s like they were trying not to look anywhere else.

Theo pulled back and cleared his throat. “Okay,” he said. He took a step back, not noticing the way Liam swayed forwards after him, and pulled the door to their room open.

“We should look at the binder,” Liam sighed behind him.

Theo looked over his shoulder and then collapsed onto the bed. “The binder?”

Liam flopped down next to him and pulled the giant wedding planner off of the night stand and onto the bed. “I can’t believe how excited my mom is,” he said a little sadly, flipping open to the index.

Theo watched him closely. “We don’t have to do this,” he said softly, hand reaching towards Liam’s and then hesitating.

There was a short stretch of silence and then Liam reached out the rest of the way, his fingers ghosting underneath Theo’s palm with feather-light touches. It was too intimate, but Theo couldn’t bring himself to ask Liam to stop.

“Do you want to call it off?” Liam asked.

Theo shook his head. “I’m in this as long as you are.”

Liam squeezed his hand and flipped to the invitation section with his other hand. “These are ugly as shit,” he observed.

Theo wiggled closer, his side pressing along Liam’s as they poured over the book. “And expensive, Liam, holy fuck.”

“I know,” Liam agreed. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“We can call it off,” Theo said quietly, looking at Liam.

“You just said that.”

“I know, but –“ there was a knock at the door and Liam and Theo both looked over. “I’ll get it,” Theo sighed, rolling off the bed and padding over to the door.

“Hey,” Scott said, when he opened the door. He was in his pajamas, hair soft and falling into his eyes like he was already ready for sleep. “Can I talk to you guys?”

Theo looked over his shoulder at Liam who nodded, closing the book and sitting up.

“Yeah, come in,” he moved back to sit on the edge of the bed across from Liam.

“I know you guys keep saying you’re okay,” Scott said, closing the door behind him, “But I couldn’t help overhearing some of your conversation.” Liam opened his mouth, probably to argue about invasion of privacy, but Scott held his hands up placatingly. “I know, I’m sorry. The walls are really thin. But I had to make sure you guys know how much support you have before you make any sort of decision,” he continued, “Your parents are going to help you pay for it, Liam, and I talked to Derek and he and I are going to help out on your end, Theo. So please don’t feel like you can’t get married just because it’s expensive.”

Theo stared at him, unsure how to feel.

“This is about you two anyways,” Scott assured them, “I know that everyone’s really excited, but this wedding should be what you want it to be. So don’t, you know, feel like you have to make everyone happy. We’ll be happy for you no matter what.”

“Thanks, Scott,” Liam muttered, glancing at Theo.

“You…” Theo tried, “I mean, you and Derek…”

“You said your parents died,” Scott said gently, “It was Derek’s idea, since you lived with him in high school and…I’m sorry if that’s stepping over the line, but we just wanted you to know that we’re all here for you.”

“I – “ Theo’s voice got caught in his throat, “Bathroom.” He bolted off the bed and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and leaning heavily against it, eyes burning. It was ridiculous and immature, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t handle it anymore.

He could hear Liam and Scott talking quietly in the bedroom, but he didn’t listen to what they were saying. He hadn’t thought that Derek had cared much about him. Even in high school, he had figured that he just wanted to keep an eye on him. He knew that Derek didn’t trust people easily anymore. But apparently Derek now wanted to pay for a wedding that Theo would never have. And Scott wanted to help. Scott who he had killed only a few years ago.

A knock came at the bathroom door behind him. “Theo?” Liam asked, “Can I come in?”

Theo moved away from the door, taking a shaky breath, and letting Liam in.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked, closing the door behind himself, “What was it?”

His eyes were so genuine, his eyebrows scrunched in concern. “Derek and Scott – I can’t believe they would – “

“Care about you?” Liam asked, “We all do.”

Theo gasped, tilting his head towards the ceiling as a tear slid down his cheek. Liam’s hand, warm against his face, brushed it away, falling to his shoulder and then wrapping around his waist to pull him in tightly, as the tears wracked his body. “I don’t deserve – “

“Shut the fuck up, you deserve everything,” Liam said firmly, hugging Theo in tightly.

He gave in, feeling his limbs go limp as he tucked his face into Liam’s neck.

“We don’t have to do this,” Liam whispered.

“I want to do this,” Theo choked out, “I want to do this for you.”

“You’re not making amends anymore, Theo.” Liam’s hand was rubbing slowly over his back. “I’ve been dealing with guilt my entire life. Eventually you just have to let yourself be happy.”

“I am,” Theo breathed.

“That’s all I want,” Liam told him, which sounded far too much like it could go hand-in-hand with _I love you_ , so Theo said nothing, but held Liam tighter.

 

They woke up early the next morning to get ready for Mason and Corey’s graduation. The room was very quiet and Theo was constantly expecting tension to rise to the surface, in the wake of all of the emotions from the night before, but Liam smiled as he elbowed Theo out of the way to spit out his toothpaste, and tossed him his button down shirt with the usual excessive force. They probably wouldn’t talk about it, Theo knew, but for now he thought they would be okay.

“Can you get me a cup of coffee, Handsome?” Liam blinked adorably at him, a tiny pout to his lips, as they met the rest of the pack in the entrance hall.

“Sure thing, Buttercup,” Theo said, squeezing his hand and then letting it go to slip away into the dining room.

“Hey, Theo, want to get me one too?” Stiles asked, emptying the rest of his cup of coffee into his own mouth.

“No,” Theo replied flatly, and made his escape.

It was getting a little easier to pretend every day. Theo was afraid that he was getting used to it, but at least he had grounded himself in reality. He wondered sometimes how Liam was dealing with pretending to be in a relationship with him. He was sure that there was a lot going on with him that he didn’t talk to Theo about, no matter how badly he wanted to be the one that Liam took all of his problems to. At least he had Mason.

Theo put lids on the two travel cups of coffee and brought them back out to his constant place at Liam’s side. Liam accepted the cup with a grateful smile and promptly choked on his first sip. Theo cackled at the look on his face and held out the other cup.

Liam glared but swapped cups. “You suck,” he informed him, “I can’t believe you drink black coffee.”

“Black like my soul,” Theo grinned, looping an arm around his shoulders, feeling Liam tense under his arm for a second before relaxing into his side.

“Bullshit,” Liam replied, angling his head up for a swift kiss.

“Somebody got some last night,” Lydia observed.

“Okay, that’s unnecessary,” Theo said quickly.

“Hey,” Braeden interrupted, thankfully, “Are we going or not? Graduation starts in an hour and this school has over 30,000 students.”

They filed out of the bed and breakfast, everyone piling their bags into their cars and leaving them parked at the bed and breakfast to walk to the crowded campus. Theo spent the entire walk joking with Liam and Derek and Braeden at the back of the group and subtly checking out his fake fiancé.

Liam was in his full glory, hair done nicely, A short-sleeve, button down shirt that showed off his strong arms, and finally a pair of nice jeans that actually fit him. He had tried to wear his ratty sneakers, but his mom had snuck his nice shoes into his bag, and as hot as Liam was, he had to be grateful. Jenna was a Rockstar. And also a saint. Theo had wanted to throw those old sneakers out for so long, but he knew Liam would kill him.

Really, Theo should have been less impressed by Liam. He was disgustingly head-over-heels with an idiot, and somehow it got worse and worse every day.

“Theo?” Liam asked.

“What?”

“You want a program?”

“I’ll just look at yours,” he said, tugging Liam closer.

Liam rolled his eyes but went easily.

Theo had never cried in front of Liam before, but he thought that maybe some kind of dam had opened last night. The intimacy was easier today than it had been before. It was more natural to stay close, even if anything more intimate was still awkward.

The graduation ceremony itself was incredibly boring, but with Liam, that was somehow okay. Theo didn’t think he was capable of being bored when Liam was there. Mostly he drew cartoonish pictures of the speakers and Liam giggled, head bent close to Theo’s as he gave him tips on how to make them more ridiculous, whether it was drawing the president of the university riding a giraffe or the keynote speaker in a spacesuit on the moon. They took a break only when Mason and Corey were called across the stage to jump to their feet, whistling and cheering obnoxiously loudly with the rest of the pack, totally ignoring the annoyed glares that the more dignified people around them were sending their way.

“Congratulations, man!” Theo said, hugging Corey tightly. They didn’t usually talk about it, but college had been really hard for Corey. Mason had double majored and double minored while Corey had plugged away at a single business major for four years and had just barely graduated. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Corey grinned, “I’m proud of myself too.”

Eventually the pack split off to go home, Theo and Liam staying behind to give both Mason and Corey company on the way back to Beacon Hills, Liam and Mason in one car, Theo and Corey in the other.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Corey admitted, “I was terrible at business in school, I doubt anyone is going to give me a job in it now.”

“Why didn’t you do something else?” Theo asked, eyes glancing from the highway to Corey’s face, back to the highway again.

“I didn’t like anything else, and at least a business degree is supposed to be useful.”

“Is there anything you want to try?”

Corey shrugged, his scent becoming tinged with unease.

“You’ll figure it out,” he assured him quickly.

“Anyways, what’s up with you and Liam? You seemed like you were both doing better with the touchy-feely part today,” Corey shifted topics.

Theo sighed. He probably owed it to Corey to talk about it for once. “I kind of had a mental breakdown when Scott said that he and Derek were going to help me pay for the wedding in place of my parents. Do you know how expensive weddings are, Corey?”

“Hella expensive,” Corey said, “Which I could have told you if you ever listened to me.”

“ _Hella expensive_ ,” Theo repeated, ignoring the last part. “This is such a bad idea. What are we supposed to do? Can you get your money back for things if you don’t go through with the wedding?”

“I don’t know,” Corey said thoughtfully, “Maybe some of it. Hey, if Liam asked you to, would you actually go through with it?”

“Why would he actually marry me?” Theo asked flatly.

“I don’t know. Hypothetically.” Corey rolled his eyes.

Theo thought about it. For several minutes.

“Oh my god! The correct answer is: no! I can’t believe you’re actually considering it. Actually, yes I can. And I want you to know that you’re an idiot.”

“I don’t know, okay?” Theo argued. “I mean, it’s _Liam_!”

“Whatever. There’s no reasoning with crazy people. Anyways, you broke down. And then? What happened with Liam?”

“He was there for me,” Theo said quietly, “I – “

“Dude, you are my best friend, and I really mean that, but you need to get your shit together. Someone giving you a hug is not a good reason to marry them,” Corey told him.

“Fuck off,” Theo rolled his eyes, smiling fondly, “You need to get more friends if I’m your only one.”

“I didn’t say only, I said best,” Corey clarified.

Theo refused to cry twice in a span of twenty-four hours.


	9. The Apartment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Liam's pov, just so you can get a sense of what is going on with him. I'm thinking I might do one or two more from his perspective throughout the fic (although they will be pretty spaced out) because clearly Theo doesn't know exactly what Liam is thinking and feeling but it's probably good that you all get to see it sometimes so you have a better idea of what is going on.
> 
> Also, there's another original character, but I think she is going to have a bigger role in this fic than I thought really (I didn't actually plan on writing her, it just kind of happened), so there's that.
> 
> Also, there is a tiny panic attack that lasts maybe a few lines and isn't even called a panic attack. Theo doesn't deal with it in a particularly calming way either (it's Thiam, so mostly they just egg each other on and argue a bit. It works for Liam, and there is an edge of softness underneath, but Theo's not dealing with it the way that works for most people). Sorry if that's confusing, but its really short and not even that bad (basically Liam just gets a little dizzy) but if you want to skip over it, just go from "-Liam are you okay?" to "Then let's go see our new place" (It's like 9 lines, mostly dialogue).
> 
> Anyways, enjoy! And thank you everyone for all of the love and support for this crazy, crazy fic! :D

Liam and Theo only had one more night at Liam’s parent’s house when they got back from Mason and Corey’s graduation. They would be moving into their new apartment the next day and Liam couldn’t say he was sorry about it. He loved his parents to death, but there was a constant uneasiness that came with lying to them and a tension between him and Theo that didn’t make things any easier. All of the wedding stuff didn’t help either.

To be honest, Liam hadn’t exactly thought through the part where all of his friends and family would want to help him plan the wedding and that he would have to have a fiancé in more than just a theoretical sense. Usually, he relied on Theo to help him with the whole “plans” thing. Neither of them were particularly good at it, but they made a decent team.

Theo had been weird lately, though. Sure, he got along fantastically with Liam’s parents and he even seemed to be getting along okay with the pack these days, but there was something different about him that Liam couldn’t quite figure out. He was somehow more open with Liam and more closed off, more physically familiar, but speaking at times in a way that reminded Liam of Theo when he had first met him – someone with a lot of secrets.

He craned his neck to look through the hall back into the kitchen where Theo and his dad were making dinner. They were talking about him and about his mom, he knew, all good things, playful, very much like two men bonding over their love for a mother and her son. Theo looked perfectly at ease in a way he had used to be when he teased Liam but never was now. It made Liam a little sad, which translated, as it always seemed to with him, to a little angry.

“Oh, Liam,” his mom said, flipping through another page in the wedding binder. “I don’t know how you’ve kept this from me for so long. You are so ridiculously head over heels for that boy.”

But Liam wasn’t. Sure, he loved Theo. Theo was his best friend. Well, his best friend after Mason, he reminded himself. Maybe there should be different best friend categories, though, because his friendship with Theo was nothing like his friendship with Mason. Anyways, it was weird how people could claim that Theo and Liam were so obviously in love when they really weren’t at all. Liam didn’t even know what Theo in love looked like, but for some reason, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to see it.

“We just…like to keep it quiet,” Liam shrugged, pretending to be interested in more boring invitations.

“You weren’t quiet about Hayden,” his mom said, “But I think it’s better for Theo when people don’t make a fuss. Theo and Hayden are very different people, after all.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed, eyes travelling back to the kitchen where Theo was laughing over the pot of boiling pasta, face lit up in a glowing smile.

“I’m happy for you, sweetie,” she told him, catching him into one of her beautifully embarrassing mom hugs.

 

Moving day was completely insane. Theo woke Liam up far too early and by the time they got down to breakfast, Derek, Mason, Corey, and Malia were already arguing loudly over who could carry the heaviest boxes.

“I thought your parents were the only ones helping us move in,” Theo moved close to Liam’s side to say quietly, sending a shiver down Liam’s spine.

“I guess not,” Liam shrugged, “At least it will go by faster.”

“You say that,” Theo said, maintaining his place at Liam’s side as they went about serving themselves breakfast at the kitchen counter, “But your mom at least is going to want to help decorate and Mason and Corey will want to hang out and Malia will stay and order a ton of food and then nobody will leave until midnight.”

Liam looked over at him to watch his expression. He would have thought that Theo might be stressed out by the prospect of spending the entire day with half the pack, but he seemed to be more amused than anything, shuffling the bacon off of his breakfast sandwich and sliding it onto Liam’s plate without seeming to even think about it. Liam elbowed him lightly in the ribs and grinned at him, causing Theo’s smile to widen back at him.

It only took everyone about two trips to get all of Liam’s things and Theo’s things into the back of Theo’s truck and Malia’s van. A couple smaller bags found their way into Mason’s car or Liam’s mom’s car, but other than that, it was about as little stuff as they had expected.

Liam was sure that they made a very strange picture, four cars following each other across Beacon Hills, but he was kind of glad to be with Theo, at least for the ten minutes it took to get to their new apartment. He had driven home from LA with Mason the day before and was still annoyed and confused by the conversation they had had.

He knew that Mason wasn’t totally onboard with the whole “fake relationship” thing, although he wasn’t entirely sure why other than “it’s just a bad idea, Liam. It’s always better when they know, remember?”. And sure, that applied very well to loved ones and being a werewolf, but this was different. Liam knew that Scott worried about him. He had always asked how Liam was doing in school and how Hayden was and if he was happy, and Liam had _thought_ that he had been happy with Hayden, but then everything had fallen apart, and now that he thought about it, maybe he hadn’t been so happy after all. But how was he supposed to tell Scott that? Apparently, he had been lying to Scott the entire time without even realizing it.

Sure, he was always one for PDA, but he was realizing now that maybe that was different from really being in a relationship. Towards the end, Hayden had been just the same in public, but more distant in private. Liam hadn’t known why. He still didn’t, really. But now he wasn’t even in a real relationship with Theo, which obviously he would never be anyways, because Theo was his best friend, and sure maybe Liam secretly sometimes thought that shirtless guys in movies were kind of hot, and sure Theo was objectively attractive, but he wasn’t really into that. Probably. But he had had more physical contact, both in front of other people and in private, with Theo in the past few days than he had had with Hayden in the entire last week of their relationship. It just went to show how bad things had been, really.

Liam was tired of talking about his fake wedding that wasn’t going to happen. And he wanted Mason off of his back about the whole heavily implying that it was okay to be interested in guys thing. He just wanted things back to normal. He _desperately_ wanted things back to normal. And bickering with Theo about the music playing over the radio as they drove the streets of Beacon Hills in the same truck that he had had in high school was about as good as it got. It was amazingly calming.

The calm shattered the minute they pulled up in front of the building.

“Is this…this can’t be right. We’re in the wrong place, right?” Liam asked, staring at the cozy little house with three cars lined up in front of it and an old red Chevy that, besides looking ancient, also seemed to be in pristine condition.

“How am I supposed to know?” Theo asked, killing the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt, “Maybe this is the landlord’s house. We still have to get the key, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Liam agreed, feeling a wave of relief surge over him.

They got out of the truck and walked over to where the others were already standing around, talking and waiting for them.

“Where’s Dad?” Liam asked his mom as they joined him, “Is he getting the key to our apartment?”

“No, Liam,” she laughed, “We were just waiting for you two so we can give you the grand tour. David went to let Bea know that you’re here.”

“Wait – “ Liam reached around blindly for Theo, feeling only a little of the lightheadedness disappear as he found his wrist, clinging to it for dear life, “You don’t mean you’re renting _this_ for us, do you? This is an actual _house_!”

“Well, you actually only have the front part of the house,” his mom explained as Liam’s head span, “There’s an in-law apartment in the back, and Bea will be living there, but the rest is for you boys. She’s actually a friend of – Liam, are you okay?”

“Your heartrate just skyrocketed,” Malia observed. It was hard to pay attention, though, the world was becoming a little fuzzy.

“Do you want me to –“ Mason started to say, but Liam shook his head.

Theo worked his wrist out of Liam’s grip, only to replace it with his hand, threading their fingers together with surety. “We’ll be right back, he said calmly, leading Liam away to the back of his truck, where he pushed Liam down to the curb and knelt in front of his, pushing Liam’s head down still further so that it was between his knees.

“It’s fine,” he said quietly, “It’s done now.”

“That’s a house!” Liam hissed, lifting his head, the fear and anxiety swiftly turning into anger, “Why the fuck would they rent us a house?”

“There’s probably a great explanation if you would just listen instead of freaking out!” Theo pointed out.

“Asshole,” Liam snorted, “How the hell are you not freaking out right now?”

“Because it’s done. And we don’t have all the information besides the fact that there’s no time to freak out right now,” Theo insisted, “Unless you want to tell them – “

“No!” Liam shot up from his seat, refusing to see the stars that were slowly fading out in front of his eyes as he pulled Theo with him by their still clasped hands, “We’re fine. I’m fine.”

“Then let’s go see our new place.” Theo smirked at him, but it was softer than his usual smirk, and he squeezed Liam’s hand so lightly and quickly that it was entirely possible that Liam had imagined it.

“Are you okay, Liam?” his mom asked immediately.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Liam replied. He was, he realized, feeling much steadier on his feet, even as he clung to Theo’s hand like life support. “It’s just…you’re renting us a house?”

He looked around. It was a small house, sure, but the front yard was big with a huge tree and a short gravel driveway. There was a one car garage and a front step with an overhang but now porch. The house itself looked fairly old with weathered blue-grey paint and white trim. Somebody’s grandma could live here, Liam thought vaguely.

“It was David’s idea, actually,” his mom said, looking at her husband, who had joined them while Liam and Theo had been hiding behind Theo’s truck.

“I know Bea from work,” he told the group, “She’s been saying that she needs to downsize and the in-law apartment is perfect for her, but she wanted to rent the rest of the house out to someone nice. I thought of you immediately.”

“Oh,” Liam said numbly.

“Can we look around or should we meet her first?” Theo asked sensibly.

“We can go in and look around,” Liam’s mom nodded.

The group filed into the house, looking around the wide hallway that bled into the living room, moving back into the kitchen, where scuffed hardwood floors turned into black and white tile and ceramic countertops, a big window looking out onto the small back yard that edged onto the woods and the garden that was flourishing along one side. Next, they moved up the creaky stairs to a tiny landing with a medium sized bedroom to one side and a small bedroom and bathroom to the other side. It was nothing like the large house that Liam had grown up in, new and close to it’s neighbors, but there was something about it that felt too right for Liam to question it anymore.

“Wow, this is…” he trailed off as they came back downstairs.

“Really nice,” Theo finished quietly.

“Why don’t I introduce you to Bea and then we can start unloading?” his dad suggested.

The in-law apartment was entered through the house by a door in the kitchen. It had a deadbolt lock on it, but it didn’t take Liam long to realize that he probably wouldn’t need to use it.

Bea looked to be approximately eighty years old, white hair curled into a short pixie cut, her head reaching almost to Liam’s mom’s shoulder. She was washing dirt off of her hands at a small kitchen sink when they came in, but she turned and gave them a wide, warm smile and a cheerful greeting.

“Now which ones are Liam and Theo?” she asked, eyes skimming over the group of them.

“I’m Theo, Ma’am,” Theo said, stepping forwards. A skip in his heart was the only thing telling Liam how nervous he was.

“I’m Liam,” Liam joined him, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Now, there’s no need to Ma’am me, Dear,” she told Theo, “My name is Bea, and you are more than welcome to use it.”

“Yes, M – Bea,” Theo said. Liam tried to swallow his laughter, but the glare and harsh elbow in the side told him that he hadn’t been entirely successful.

“Well, why don’t you all go and get these boys settled in. I’ll order us some pizza for lunch this afternoon if you all would like that,” Bea told them kindly.

“That would be great, Bea. Thanks,” Liam’s dad said.

It only took them about two hours to get everything into the house and unpacked. They were clearly in need of more furniture, and maybe some more dishes, but otherwise, their few possessions actually seemed to fill up the small house fairly quickly. Bea had left the place partially furnished but had told them that she had gotten rid of anything too “old lady-ish” for two young fiancés.

Theo had been completely right, although Liam had no desire to say it to his smirking face, and the others stayed through dinner time and almost past when Bea went to bed. But eventually Liam was left alone with Theo in the small house that was so much bigger than the apartment that they had shared in college.

They said nothing as they made their way up the creaky stairs, but stopped on the landing, looking between the small empty room and the larger, sparsely furnished one with the full-sized bed that had been Theo’s when he lived with Derek.

“We can get a new bed tomorrow,” Liam suggested. He didn’t know why he was feeling nervous now. He had slept with Theo plenty of times before. Well, not like _that_ , obviously. But it wasn’t their first time sharing a bed by any means.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Theo said, moving into the bathroom, “just let me brush my teeth first.”

“No!” Liam protested before he was even aware of thinking it. Why Theo couldn’t sleep on the couch, he had no idea. It wasn’t like he _wanted_ to sleep with – in the same bed as Theo. But there was something nice about having someone else there, a warm, solid weight next to him, that made the new house less intimidating. Liam wasn’t _scared_ , but, he decided, sleeping next to Theo tonight wouldn’t be the worst thing to ever happen to him.

“No?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean…we can share for one more night,” Liam tried, “That couch isn’t very big.”

Theo looked pained, but then quickly masked the expression. “Fine,” he agreed, and Liam couldn’t help but smile.

They bickered as usual while getting ready for bed, but the tiny bathroom made it impossible to stay out of each other’s way. Theo kept almost elbowing Liam in the face as he brushed his teeth and at one point had to take both hands to Liam’s hips to steer him away from the sink so that he had enough room to spit out his toothpaste. Liam turned away from the mirror so that he didn’t have to watch himself blush.

The bedroom was definitely smaller with the bed and the boxes of clothes and little things that still needed to be unpacked, and there was no nightstand, so Liam set his phone on the floor next to the bed and stripped down to his boxers before crawling under the covers.

“Can you get the light?” he asked Theo, who rolled his eyes, in the middle of pulling his shirt off, but went to do it anyways.

The last thing that Liam saw before the light was extinguished were Theo’s abs, which should have been more concerning, but Liam was tired enough to not feel like thinking too hard about it. The mattress dipped, and Theo slipped in beside him, a comfortable, familiar weight at his side.

“Why does this bed feel so much smaller than mine?” Liam whispered, “It’s the same size.”

“Maybe because you’re halfway across the bed already?” Theo suggested, his voice sounding amused, even as his face was partially obscured by shadows.

Liam looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, there was plenty of room behind him. “Sorry,” he said, shuffling backwards a little.

Theo’s arm caught him around the waist, Liam’s skin tingling with the skin to skin contact. “Don’t worry about it,” Theo mumbled, already sounding more than half asleep, “Just sleep.”

“Okay,” Liam agreed, eyelids already feeling heavy, heart feeling content. He didn’t have to have an answer for everything, he thought, it was okay to just fall asleep wrapped up in Theo. Sometimes, he decided, that was just what friends did.


	10. The Engagement Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't get over how long this fic is getting, wtf?
> 
> Also, slightly dubcon kissing, since one of them is drunk, but they have also discussed the whole "we're okay with kissing" thing to pretty great length, so idk? The fact that consent is dubious is talked about and apologized for. (Skip from "Theo shook his head" to "Theo tried not to look too disappointed" if you don't want to read any of the actual kissing. They talk about it for the rest of the chapter, basically, so I don't really know what to tell you other than that)
> 
> Hopefully this isn't all too cringy. Sorry in advance if it is!
> 
> Enjoy!

Theo couldn’t handle it. They walked up to the house hand-in-hand, and Theo could feel his palm sweating against Liam’s.

“What the fuck, dude?” Liam complained, wiping his hand against his jeans as Theo rang the doorbell, and then taking his hand again.

“Sorry,” Theo muttered, “There’s kind of a lot at stake, though. This is the first time being with the entire pack since you proposed.”

Liam had his mouth open, probably to argue, but then looked at the door that they could hear Scott approaching on the other side and closed it.

“Shit,” he said. Theo had to agree.

“Hey, guys!” Scott beamed at them as he flung the door open, “Congratulations! Also, no swearing, Allie’s hearing is getting pretty good.”

As if on cue, a screeching blur came flying down the hall at them, crashing straight into Liam’s legs. He was well on his way to falling over backwards, but Theo’s arm wrapped around his waist, holding him steady.

“UNCLE LIAM!” Allie shouted, “ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED TO THEO?”

“Uh…” Liam glanced at Theo, his blue eyes drawing Theo hopelessly in, “Yeah. We’re going to get married.”

“I want to be the flower girl!” she demanded, “Daddy said I might be!”

Scott looked sheepish and apologetic.

“You can totally be the flower girl,” Theo told her.

“Thank you, Theo!” she hugged his legs tightly too.

“You can call him Uncle Theo, now, I think,” Scott told her with a smile, “Why don’t you go find Mommy and tell her that Uncle Liam and Uncle Theo just got here?”

“Okay!” she said brightly, racing away again.

“Come on in, guys,” Scott told them over his shoulder, following his daughter.

“Fuuuuck,” Theo groaned.

“Language!” Scott shouted from the other room.

“I can’t do it,” Theo whispered to Liam, eyes wide, “This is too much.”

Liam stared at him incredulously. “This was your idea!” he hissed, “Just – it’s just one night. There’s even alcohol. You’ll survive.”

“F – okay, fine,” he sighed. It wasn’t _just one night_ , which he well knew, but for Liam, he felt a little like he could do anything. No matter how much it all seemed to be piling up. _Scott’s kid_ was excited about the wedding now, for fuck’s sake. This was getting out of hand.

Liam grinned and interlaced their fingers, pulling Theo behind him into the living room, where the pack let out a collective cheer. Theo didn’t know why it was, but it was suddenly so much harder to do this than before. _Push through_ , he reminded himself, _you can do this_.

Golden balloons were strung up around the room, proclaiming congratulations. Appetizers were set out on the coffee table and drinks lined the sideboard. Some sort of party music was playing, and the back door was open, spilling noise onto the back porch where some of the adults – the older adults – were grilling.

And everyone was there. Scott, Malia, Allie, and Storm. Lydia and Stiles and Derek and Braeden. Stiles’s dad, Argent, and even Melissa, who Theo was fairly certain still hated him. Liam’s parents, Mason’s parents, Parrish, Corey and Mason, Val and her husband. And Hayden. Hayden wasn’t looking at them, but Theo knew that she had seen them and for some reason, he had the feeling that she was even less happy than she had been the last time Theo had talked to her.

“Can I get you guys something to drink?” Scott asked eagerly, “Champagne?”

“Yes,” Theo said quickly, “Please.” There was always alcohol laced with just enough wolfsbane of just the right kind to bring them to an approximation of drunk, and Theo figured that just one drink, as long as Lydia hadn’t brewed it, would at least take the edge off. Not that he really wanted to get too drunk tonight. There was too much at stake.

They were swarmed again with more congratulations from the pack as Scott handed over two glasses of spiked champagne, each with half a strawberry.

“Classy, right?” Lydia asked, holding up her own glass, “I told you I would keep an eye on it.”

“It’s, uh, very classy,” Theo agreed, as Liam was pulled off to talk to Valerie, his eyes following him all the way across the room.

“I don’t think Hayden’s too happy about you snatching her man right out from under her,” Lydia commented breezily.

“Then maybe she shouldn’t have let him go,” Theo said bitterly, “And anyways, Liam’s not her man anymore.” He looked down at his glass. “You didn’t brew this, did you?”

“Relax, Sweetheart, it’s not that strong,” she patted his arm, swinging her strawberry-blonde hair around to her other shoulder so that she could smile up at him. “But I’ll give you a piece of advice: don’t you dare let Liam go.”

“Is that a banshee prediction?” he asked, startled.

“It’s a Lydia prediction,” she told him, “So don’t mess with it.”

She turned and started a conversation with someone else and Theo was left with his head reeling. He felt a tug on his pantleg and looked down to see Storm standing up with one arm braced against Theo’s leg. He downed the rest of the champagne, placing the glace to the side, and reached down to pick him up.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, unable to help the smile that spread onto his lips, “What’s going on?”

Storm babbled incoherently at him, and Theo’s smiled widened as he hefted the kid higher onto his hip. He looked around for Scott or Malia, but instead saw Liam staring at him a few feet away, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Theo shifted, embarrassed.

“I think Liam’s ovaries just exploded,” Stiles laughed loudly.

“Hey, fuck you, Stiles!” Liam called back, face turning pink as he looked away from Theo.

“Language!” A number of voiced called.

“It must be almost his bedtime,” someone said behind Theo, and he turned to see Melissa McCall, a stern expression on her usually kind face. “I’ll take him.”

Theo handed Storm over quickly, wanting nothing more than to get away from the scariest woman in Beacon Hills. _I killed her son,_ he thought, _Of course she doesn’t want me holding her grandson._

“I don’t think I’ll ever trust you, Theo,” she told him quietly while they still stood close, “But if you make Liam happy, then I think we can get along okay.”

Theo stared in surprise and then nodded blankly. Melissa quirked a tiny smile at him and then walked away with Storm snuggled into her arms.

“Hey,” Liam appeared at his elbow, “You okay?”

“What? Yeah. I think I need another drink, though,” he blinked.

Argent poked his head in to call everyone outside for dinner, and Liam nodded.

Dinner was fairly normal, if loud and chaotic and filled with people constantly looking at and talking to Theo and Liam. From the looks that Hayden was sending his way, Theo had a feeling that both he and Lydia had been spot on. However she had felt about the fake engagement before, she definitely didn’t seem too happy about it now.

Theo made a mental note to avoid her at all costs. Already, this party was wearing him down faster than anything so far. He accepted the beer Derek was offering him.

“Well,” Jenna said, from the other end of where two picnic tables were pushed together, once all of the plates were empty and the conversation had died down, “I think now that we’re celebrating your engagement, it’s about time that you two told us how you got together in the first place.”

Theo’s eyes snapped to Liam, who was sitting right next to him, staring back in horror. It had been bad enough making something up to tell Scott and Malia. Theoretically, it should be better this time. They already had a story that they had put together. Theo was pretty sure he could even remember it. But there were so many more people to catch the lie this time. The pressure was really starting to get to him.

Three pairs of knowing eyes burned into him as he cleared his throat, the others watching with more casual interest.

“We were away from the pack,” Theo said, watching Liam instead of the others around him for a little steadiness, even as his head swam with stress and wolfsbane, “And we lived together, so naturally we got to be pretty good friends. I’ve loved him…for a long time. When he and Hayden went their separate ways, I think – I think you started to feel something too.”

“I did,” Liam smiled softly at him.

“I guess we just lived in misery for a few months until it got to be too much and just – all of a sudden we were kissing.”

“What, just like that?” Stiles asked, squinting his eyes, “You just started kissing?”

It wasn’t the wolves hearing any change in his heartbeat that he had been worried about, it was this. The humans. Stiles especially.

“Stiles,” Scott objected, “Leave them alone.”

“What?” Stiles asked, “I’m just seeing if their story checks out – “

“They’re not suspects in some crime, Stiles,” the Sheriff reminded his son.

“Are you serious?” Stiles exclaimed, arms flailing wide in disbelief, “Scotty, this guy _killed you_!”

“But he’s pack, now, Stiles. We’re past that,” Scott said evenly.

Theo took one look at Stiles’s incredulous expression, downed the rest of his beer in one go, and stood up, swaying slightly before going back inside. He could feel the eyes following him, knew that Liam had almost followed, but that someone else had held him back. He was past the point of caring, which was not good.

He made it into the kitchen before he realized he didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing.

“Stiles is an asshole, but he grows on you,” Derek said from the doorway. Theo looked over to see him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

He snorted. “You didn’t kill his best friend,” Theo replied.

“I almost did. I messed up his entire life and he still saved mine. Over and over.”

“Yeah, somehow I don’t actually see that happening for me,” Theo leaned back against the fridge, leaning into the haze of wolfsbane.

“Just give it time,” Derek shrugged, “Scott and Lydia will keep him in check.”

“Why do you care about me suddenly?” Theo found himself asking.

“I guess I see myself in you a little,” he scratched at his beard, “I’ve always cared, I just figure now’s the time to show it.”

“And why’s that?” Theo challenged.

“I know you,” Derek said, “And I know you’re not okay, but I’m not going to push you. I will help you, though. Anything you need.”

Theo dropped his eyes to the ground, but he was saved from replying by Scott walking in, carrying a sleeping Allie.

“Theo, I’m sorry about Stiles, he – “

“It’s fine,” Theo said quickly, “Don’t worry about it.”

Scott looked like he was about to argue, but he caught Derek’s eye, adjusted Allie on his hip and said instead, “Derek, if you could bring out the ice cream cake and then get somebody to help you with plates and forks? I’ll put this one to bed and then I’ll be right down.”

“I can – “ Theo started.

“Not the guest of honor,” Scott winked, already making his way down the hall.

“I’ll get the plates and forks,” Theo told Derek instead, pushing off the wall to look for them.

Derek shrugged “If you can carry them,” he agreed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Theo wavered on the spot.

“I mean you’ve been drinking steadily since you got here, and you’re well on your way to being drunk off your ass.” Derek pulled the ice cream cake out of the freezer and they made their way back outside.

Theo walked as carefully as he could, grateful to collapse into his seat next to Liam again, aware of all of the eyes on him, the thick tension around the table, but too tired to care anymore.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked him quietly, face full of concern.

“I think I’m drunk,” Theo admitted, “But other than that, I’m fine.”

Liam snorted. “Do you want some cake?”

Theo looked at it, sugary white frosting with the words _Congratulations Liam and Theo_ in blue icing.

“Do you want me to puke?” he asked.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Liam grinned.

Theo didn’t really care that Liam was making fun of him, but just slumped towards him, leaning heavily against Liam, who was eating his cake one-handed, the other arm wrapped around Theo. He could have sworn that he could feel Liam’s thumb rubbing lazily at his side, but it was hard to concentrate on even that. Theo was not good at being drunk.

“So Theo – “ Stiles started, a glint in his eye.

“Shut the fuck up, Stiles,” Liam growled, his arm tightening protectively around Theo, “If you say one more bad thing about him – “

“I was just going to apologize for calling him out before, Liam. Chill,” Stiles frowned.

Theo looked at Liam from where he had slouched in his chair. He didn’t look up at Liam a lot, but he kind of liked it. The porch lighting illuminated Liam’s head like a glowing halo.

“Wait,” he said, his brain struggling to catch up, “You actually like me?”

Liam looked down at him in surprise. “Uh…yeah. We’ve lived together for four years.”

Theo thought about that. “Oh,” he said.

“Theo,” Liam ducked his head to look Theo in the eye, “You know I love you, right?”

_Thump-thump_

No change in heartbeat.

Theo stared and Liam stared back. Suddenly there was an elegant tinkling of glasses, combined with some not so elegant banging of forks against cups and tin cans. It was such a muddle of different noises and Theo thought that maybe he did love the McCall pack a little after all.

The door to the house slid open and they both looked over.

“Oh, are we getting to see you guys kiss?” Scott asked, excitedly as he returned to his place at the table.

“Theo’s had a lot to drink – “ Liam tried.

“You’re engaged,” Malia pointed out, “I’m pretty sure he won’t mind.”

Theo looked to Mason and Corey for help, but they seemed to be at a loss.

Suddenly, Liam’s hand was on his cheek, bringing him back around to face him. “Okay?” he asked. “You can always tap out.”

Theo shook his head slightly and leaned in to press their lips softly together. Liam’s hand slid around to the back of his neck, Theo’s hand finding its way under the table to brace itself on Liam’s strong thigh. Liam pulled away softly, eyes still shut, Theo leaning into him, chasing after the kiss. He had to stop, he reminded himself. He wasn’t supposed to go overboard with the kissing Liam thing.

He didn’t know who initiated the second time. Maybe they both did, but suddenly their lips were meeting again, harder this time, and open-mouthed. Theo gave in to it, brushing his tongue along Liam’s bottom lip, and then sucking it into his mouth, nibbling a little as Liam pulled him closer. His other hand drifted up Liam’s chest to his shoulder as Liam’s tongue pushed its way into Theo’s mouth, licking and sucking, caressing Theo’s own, and then suddenly it was gone.

Theo tried not to look too disappointed as Liam pulled back, blushing adorably as his hand fell from the back of Theo’s neck to his shoulder, trailing down his arm before falling into his lap, fingers nearly brushing the tips of Theo’s. Theo processed for a second and then pulled back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I…did not need to see that,” David said, dropping his hand from where it had come up to cover Jenna’s eyes.

The silent surprise around the table shattered with laughter. Theo’s mind was still whirring with thoughts that could only half form. 

“We should probably head out,” Liam said, not looking at Theo.

“I _bet_ you do,” Lydia smiled. Hayden had disappeared from her seat next to her at some point.

“Come on, Theo,” Liam’s hand found his, pulling gently to get Theo onto his feet. He swayed a little there, and Liam wrapped an arm around him. “Thanks guys. This was – a nice party.”

It was a fucking awkward party and now Theo had a fucking awkward ride home.

“Yeah,” Scott said, “Congratulations, again! Don’t let him drive, okay?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Liam replied, and Theo waved a little belatedly over his shoulder at the rest of the pack on their way back through the house.

“Where are your keys?” Liam asked him, as they reached the front door.

“Umm…” Theo thought about it, “Jacket.”

Liam grabbed their jackets off of the hook by the door and pulled the keys to the truck out of one of the pockets. Theo took his jacket out of Liam’s hand and followed him out to the truck, climbing up into the passenger seat for the first time in a very long time. He didn’t let anybody drive his truck. Ever.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said quietly as he pulled out of the driveway, “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. You’re drunk. That can’t be consensual.”

Theo thought about it. “It’s okay,” he replied, “What else were we going to do?” He rested his head against the window. “Has the pack always been this invested in your personal life?”

“No,” Liam admitted, “I usually tell them too much, or…kiss people like that right in front of them. I think they’re just worried, since I don’t do that with you.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Theo sighed, “I never mind you kissing me.”

The car was silent for the rest of the drive back to their house. The street was quiet, and Bea must have turned the outside lights on for them before going to sleep. They had invited her to the party, but she had waved them off with smiles and claims of being too old to stay up partying the way that they did. They really didn’t, usually. Maybe that was why Theo was such a lightweight.

He hopped down from the truck, stumbling a little as the gravel crunched under his feet, but Liam was right there.

“That was a pretty shitty party, huh?” he asked, shoulder bumping with Theo’s as they walked up to the house. “I don’t blame you for getting wasted.”

“I’m not – “ Theo tripped up the stairs, “Okay, I’m wasted.”

Liam laughed and followed him inside, locking the door behind them as they started the perilous climb up the stairs to their bedroom.

There was something that had been bothering Theo for what felt like a long time now. In reality, it had probably only been a week or two, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said, how bad it had sounded.

“I’m sorry, Liam,” he said, standing there helplessly at the end of the bed as Liam bent down to untie his shoes for him, somehow just _knowing_ the uncomfortable roiling of Theo’s stomach from the alcohol and the wolfsbane and the ten-minute car ride. He glanced up at him with big eyes and long eyelashes, lips still pink and bitten.

“For what?” he asked patiently, pulling the shoe off of Theo’s foot, causing him to drop his hands onto Liam’s shoulders, trying to continue holding himself up.

“For asking you how much your kiss is worth,” Theo said carefully, intent on not messing this up, “That was mean.”

Liam looked down, working at the other shoe now. “I should have just returned it,” Theo continued. His mouth was moving faster than his mind. It wasn’t what he had meant to say at all, but maybe it would still work out okay. “Equal value exchange.”

Liam snorted, pulling his shoe off and then standing up. “I can’t believe you got more drunk than me,” he said, shaking his head.

Theo looked for some place to grab onto and found Liam’s beltloops. He hooked two fingers through one and reeled him gently in, Liam coming more easily than he had expected. “Liam,” he said, tasting the name on his tongue along with the various tastes of alcohol all blended into one. “Do you want me to return your kiss to you?”

They were standing incredibly close now, Liam’s scent so intense, so _him_ that Theo could hardly breathe. He watched as Liam’s eyes fell closed, listened as his heartbeat sped up, his breaths coming more shallow. Liam’s lips came together and Theo leaned in, brushing their noses together, inhaling deeply, happy to drown in Liam’s scent. And then he was being pushed away. He might have expected Liam to be angry, but he wasn’t. If anything, he looked confused.

“Dude, you’re so wasted,” Liam told him. Theo could still hear his heart racing, sounding like a herd of elephants stampeding in his ears. “Sleep it off, okay? I’ll take the couch.”

Theo tripped after Liam, grabbing his wrist, letting go as soon as Liam turned to face him again. “Don’t go,” he said, letting his hands fall back to his sides, “I won’t kiss you again if you don’t want me to. But you don’t have to go.”

Liam watched him for a minute or two and then followed him back to bed. Theo hadn’t expected it to work. He didn’t know why he had asked except that he wanted it and he was tired. He didn’t know if he could even sleep without Liam next to him anymore.

It wouldn’t matter. He would wake up the next morning, head pounding, dry heaving over the toilet as Liam laughed at him and handed him bottles of Gatorade. Most of the night would be a blur, and the almost-kiss, hidden away from expectant eyes in the privacy of their own home, would be stored away as something that he wasn’t sure whether to categorize as a memory or a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All "I love you's" in this chapter are meant platonically. Sorry.


	11. The Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking this is probably about a third of the way through this fic now. (I did say that it was going to be long, didn't I?) But this is where the plot starts, so...
> 
> Enjoy!

The day after the engagement party was the last day before Liam’s internship started. They had meant to go out and find a bed for the second room, but Theo didn’t actually make it downstairs until after noon, and by that point, neither of them really felt like doing more than sitting on the couch and playing videogames.

Theo was sitting with his feet in Liam’s lap, failing less miserably than he used to at Need for Speed. It was nice. It felt like they were in their apartment back in college, where everything was so much more normal and simple.

“It’s 6:00,” Liam said, suddenly pausing the game, “We should probably get dinner soon.”

Theo watched as Liam stretched his arms high overhead, muscles extending, t-shirt riding up just slightly. “Take out?” he suggested.

“Unless you want to raid Bea’s fridge,” Liam agreed, “We haven’t been grocery shopping yet.”

Theo knew that she probably wouldn’t mind. In fact, she was constantly trying to give them food in the two days that they had lived there. “We can ask her if she wants take out too?” he suggested.

Liam smiled at him. The smile was far too soft. It was the kind that usually made Theo feel endlessly uncomfortable as it commended him for doing a good thing. On Liam, though, it only made him want to smile back.

“Chinese?” Liam suggested hopefully, fingers playing absently with the hem of Theo’s sweatpants.

“Yeah, I’ll ask her,” Theo dropped his feet from Liam’s lap, sitting up as he tossed the controller aside, and dropped a light kiss onto Liam’s lips before making his way towards the kitchen. He made it all the way to the doorway before he realized what he had done. “Shit,” he said quickly, turning to look at Liam, “I didn’t mean to do that, I’m sorry. I – “

Liam stared at him in shock, and Theo watched the emotions on his face progress through confusion to the inevitable anger, eyes sparkling, mouth set firm.

“Can’t you just lay off for _one_ day?” he demanded, “It’s not enough that we have to do this like every waking second?”

“It was an _accident_ Liam!” Theo insisted, “I’m just so used to – “

“Stop making up excuses!” Liam jumped to his feet, eyes burning yellow, “This was your idea! Why can’t you just be useful for once without fucking everything up?”

Theo felt his body go calm and cold. The ice to Liam’s fire. “I don’t know, Liam. Why can’t you?” he smirked humorlessly, “Why can’t you do anything right? Why can’t you do _anything at all_ without getting angry? Where’s that control when you need it, huh? Where’s your anchor?”

Liam’s fangs unsheathed and Theo rolled his eyes. He was still hungover and for once, he wasn’t dealing with this. It was another one of those times when Liam had to defuse on his own. “Whatever,” he said, changing course for the stairs, “I’m going to take a shower.”

There was a loud bang behind him as Liam apparently put his fist through the wall. Theo ignored him, slamming the bathroom door behind him.

He wrenched the shower on to nearly the highest setting, still fuming. Liam could get to him like nobody else could. As much as he loved him, it drove him crazy sometimes how stubborn he could be. He stripped furiously and then stood, waiting for the water to heat up. He never locked the bathroom door. He hadn’t used to in their apartment either. Besides each of them knowing that they needed some space where they could be alone if they had to, there was only one bathroom, and Theo was mad, but not mad enough to lock Liam out of the only bathroom.

He took a deep breath and pulled the shower curtain back, stepping under the hot spray of water and letting it wash away the tension and anger inside of him. When he had been with the Dread Doctors, showering had been the only time that he could feel truly human again. It was grounding and it was cleansing and he could have the space to himself to not think and to not kill, and to just be Theo, exactly the way he was born, but with only one difference. His hand moved to rest on his chest right over his heart and he bowed his head into the spray, feeling water soak his hair and run down his skin as Tara’s heart beat steadily under his palm.

Liam was outside the door, hesitating. Theo couldn’t blame him. He had said some nasty things and now he wouldn’t be surprised if Liam never wanted to speak to him again. But everyone had to pee at some point, he supposed, because the door creaked open anyways. He waited for the sound of piss hitting the water, figuring he would stay as quiet as he could until Liam left, but suddenly, the shower curtain was ripped back, and Liam was climbing into the shower with Theo, fully clothed.

“What the fuck, Liam?” Theo spluttered, voice embarrassingly high as he looked around for something to cover himself with.

But Liam didn’t stop. He flung his arms around Theo, pulling him into a tight hug. Theo only panicked for a minute or two about being naked before Liam was tucking his head into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Theo. I shouldn’t have said that,” he said miserably. Theo could feel the rough scrape of Liam’s wet clothes against his skin, but it wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable. “It’s not fair to you. I know how much you’re giving up to help me, and – and not a lot of people would do that, so. It’s fine. Please don’t be mad at me.”

Theo sighed, wrapping his arms around Liam and hugging him tightly back. “It’s okay, Liam. I’m sorry too,” Theo admitted, “I say really terrible things when I feel like I’m backed into a corner, and I – I don’t know why I kissed you.”

“Reflex,” Liam shrugged, smiling, arms still tight around Theo. “I don’t mind it if you don’t.”

“Clearly I don’t,” Theo blushed, “But, um, why did you get in the shower fully clothed?”

“I thought it would be weird if we were both naked,” Liam said simply.

“You couldn’t just wait for me to get out of the shower?” Theo asked, amused as always by Liam.

Liam looked sheepish. “I didn’t want you to feel bad about it or get any more mad at me.”

Theo grinned at him. He realized that they were both still wrapped up in each other’s arms and that he was still very much naked, but he somehow didn’t care that much.

“Okay,” he said, “You should go get changed now, this can’t be comfortable.” He plucked at the back of Liam’s soaking t-shirt, “Then we’ll get dinner.”

“Okay,” Liam agreed. He tilted his face up and for a second Theo though he was just letting the water spray down on him, but then he realized that Liam was waiting for something.

Theo unwound one arm to push the hair back out of Liam’s eyes, and dropped an easy kiss onto his lips before releasing him completely. It felt weird to be able to do that now, and all too natural.

Liam pulled back, eyes scanning Theo, probably more by reflex than anything, but something about that gaze made parts of Theo’s body stir with interest.

“See you downstairs,” Liam said finally, blushing as he nearly faceplanted out of the shower, and then pulling the shower curtain back into place. His heart was racing, but then, so was Theo’s.

And _fuck_ , he couldn’t even get off without Liam knowing.

 

Liam was already dressed and eating breakfast the next morning when Theo came downstairs.

“Morning,” he grunted, helping himself to a banana and sitting down across from Liam at the kitchen table.

Liam’s eyes dropped down to Theo’s hand as he chewed on his cereal and he pointed his spoon at it. “You wear that to bed,” he told Theo. Theo looked down to see the engagement ring that had become so much a part of his hand that he hardly even felt it anymore. “I don’t think I’ve seen you take it off since I put it on you.”

Theo swallowed. It was true, he never took the ring off. Not when he showered or slept or exercised. Not when he locked himself in the other bedroom for a few hours to paint, sure that nobody would even be there to see it. When he played with it, he twisted it around, usually pushing it farther down his finger to make it feel more secure, but never took it on and off absentmindedly the way some people did.

“We’re pretending to be engaged,” Theo told him, “Why would I take it off? Especially when the pack has a really terrible habit of just walking into our apartment unannounced.”

Liam shrugged and then checked the time on his phone and swore. “I’m going to be late to my first day of work,” he said, dumping his bowl into the sink, rinsing it, and then throwing it into the dishwasher.

Theo, in the process of throwing his banana peel away, grabbed the keys to his truck and tossed them to Liam. “Don’t get pulled over,” he told him.

Liam stared. “Are you serious?” he asked.

“Yes. Now go before you’re late,” Theo warned him.

“You’re amazing, thank you!” Liam kissed him swiftly and then grabbed his backpack and swung out the door before Theo could even process what had just happened.

He smiled after him, feeling suddenly jittery. He needed a run.

 

About an hour later found Theo running through the preserve, reveling in the feeling of a clear mind and a cool breeze rippling through his hair. He came to a sudden stop, trying to calm his breath and his thundering heartbeat enough to listen to the quiet forest around him. Something smelled wrong, but that wasn’t what had stopped him at first. As he listened, he heard the sound again. A faint rustle of leaves was all the warning he had before the vicious attack.

Something crashed into his legs, knocking him backwards in a flurry of gnashing teeth and swiping claws. Surprised, Theo looked down, to see a small werewolf, only coming up to about hip-height, ripping through the flesh of his legs. It hurt, but it wasn’t the worst thing to happen to Theo. The tiny werewolf’s claws came dangerously close to his balls with the next swipe, so he grabbed the back of her shirt and hauled her up, still thrashing, so that he could get a proper look at her.

“Woah, there,” he said, “What are you doing?”

She was extremely young. Younger than Allie without being a baby, but she was somehow already in full beta shift, seething at Theo as she struggled to get free. He loosened his grip and set her gently back on her feet. She growled a little.

“Where are your parents?” He tried again, but apparently this was the wrong question. The tiny werewolf flew at him in a murderous rage, this time reaching up at his face from where he had been stooped over a little.

He stumbled backwards, realizing that his wounds weren’t healing as quickly as usual and did the first thing he could think to do: he shifted. The girl stopped lashing out the moment that she realized that Theo was no longer in human form. She watched him curiously as he came closer, claws and fangs slowly retracting. Theo took a cautious step closer, scenting the air and swishing his tail in the least dangerous way that he could.

The girl put a hand out and touched his nose, sniffling a little, and then flung herself at him again, this time hugging him so tightly around the neck that he thought he might choke. He sat down on his haunches as her little fingers curled into his fur and wondered what exactly had happened as she worked herself up into a proper wailing cry. Clearly it had been nothing good.

After another few minutes, he laid down on the ground, the girl sitting down next to him as she ran her fingers over his fur and scented the air again. He could smell the wolf part of her, but it wasn’t the only one in the area. There were other wolves here, but Theo had run into this girl at least fifteen minutes ago, and nobody else had appeared. And then there was the smell of stale blood and rotting.

When the girl had worked herself back down into quiet sniffling, Theo stood up again, exploring the side of the trail as much as he could without losing sight of her. The smell was obviously coming from farther into the woods, but Theo couldn’t tell anything else from there. He needed to see what had happened for himself, regardless of how strong his suspicions were, but he couldn’t leave the girl by herself. He would have to shift back to talk to her.

Preparing himself for another brutal attack on his lower legs, Theo shifted, pulling his clothes back on quickly, and then stood still, watching the little girl blink tearily up at him. She didn’t attack.

“My name’s Theo, what’s yours?” He asked, sitting down in the middle of the path a little closer to her, but far enough away to be mostly nonthreatening.

“Miki,” she told him in a voice so soft that had he been human, there was no way he could have heard.

“Like Micky Mouse?” he asked curiously.

“No,” she sighed, much too heavily for however old she was, “Just Miki.”

“Okay,” he said quickly, realizing that there was other more important information to get out of her, “Miki, you’re a werewolf, right?” She stared at him. “Right, dumb question. Do you smell that coming from the woods? I need to go see what it is, but I don’t want to leave you alone, okay? Do you think you can come with me?”

“No!” She screamed, covering her face with both hands.

Whatever was in the woods, Theo thought, she must have seen it. He couldn’t take her back there, but he was less worried about leaving and her running away than leaving and something else finding her first.

“Okay,” he said, thinking fast, “Okay, Miki. Listen. If you let me carry you, you don’t have to look, okay? And I’ll go really quickly and see what’s there and then I’ll call my friends and they can come and figure out what they need to do, and I’ll take you somewhere safe okay?” He wanted to say so that he could find her parents, but that hadn’t worked out too well last time he had mentioned them, and he had a pretty terrible idea that he already knew where he would find them.

She looked at him for a minute and Theo felt like she could see straight into his soul, then she nodded. He inched his way closer and carefully turned his back to her, holding his breath for what seemed like far too long before feeling a small pair of arms loop around his neck as the girl climbed onto his back. He looped his arms under her legs and then stood up, surprised at how light she was.

“Okay, I’m going to go back into the woods now if you want to close your eyes,” he said, and started walking. The scent hit him a few yards in, and he felt Miki bury her face into his neck, trying to drown out the scent of rotting and blood. He was sure it couldn’t be good to take her back here, even if she didn’t have to see it, but Theo had a responsibility to the pack, whatever they thought of him, and he had to let them know what they would be dealing with.

He had done a lot of terrible things in his life and he had seen even worse things done, not by his hand, but not stopped by him either. What he found in the clearing was worse than all of them. The smell was overpowering, and it made his skin prick and eyes water, but it was nothing to the sight that laid before him. It was hard to tell how many bodies had been torn apart here. Two, maybe three. He would guess that they were probably Miki’s family. Flesh was rendered from bone, torn heavily and scattered around the small clearing in a way that gave Theo an image of brutal violence and carnage. He had no idea what would do it or why, but already he had been here too long. Miki’s arms were almost chokingly tight around his neck, and he could feel pricks of wetness from her eyes against his shoulder.

He quickly sent Scott a text with his coordinates and turned to leave, pausing for a moment to realize that something wasn’t quite right. It was the blood, he thought. With this smell, it should have been recent. With the bodies looking like this, it should have been soaking the ground, but what dark patches of grass he could see were dry, the blood flaking off of the blades of grass. It had been a while, he realized. Maybe days. So why did it still smell like – Miki whimpered.

“Okay, we’re going now,” he promised, and backtracked out of the clearing and back towards the trail.

The run home was more of a workout than he had anticipated, especially with Miki still clinging to his back. He had tried to get her to come down and walk, but she wouldn’t let go and if he was honest, he was still a little scared of her, both of hurting her and of having those razor sharp little claws digging into him and leaving injuries that were somehow _still_ healing. So he let her stay there and got some resistance training on the way home, slowing to a walk about halfway there to answer a call from Scott.

“What happened?” he asked urgently, “How did you find this?”

“I didn’t do it, if that’s what you’re asking,” Theo rolled his eyes.

“That’s not what I’m asking, Theo,” Scott said, a little impatiently, “I know you didn’t do it. But how did you find it?”

“I was going for a run and this little werewolf girl attacked me out of nowhere. You can smell it from the trail, so I went to look and I found that,” he explained.

“Where’s the girl now?” Scott asked.

“With me. I think that might have been her family,” Theo said quietly, “Speaking of which, I have no idea what to do with her. Do I take her to the Sheriff?”

“Is she hurt?” Scott asked, concerned.

“No,” Theo assured him.

“Okay. Take her to Liam’s mom. She’ll probably call my mom and Stiles’s dad and we’ll all figure out what to do with her,” Scott decided, like the decision was obvious. Theo supposed that was why he was the alpha. It was times like these that he wasn’t sure why he had ever wanted that responsibility.

“Thanks, Scott,” he sighed.

“No problem,” Scott replied, “I’ll call you to update if we find something, but we’ll probably have a pack meeting tonight anyways.”

Theo said goodbye and hung up, changing course to Jenna and David’s house. How he could have been stupid enough to forget that Liam’s mom was a social worker, he had no idea.

“Hey, Miki, we’re going to go to my friend Jenna’s house, okay?” he said, “And then we’re going to figure out what you should do next. Does that sound like a good plan?”

She said nothing, but nodded against his neck, so Theo took off into a jog again, legs and back burning in a way that they hadn’t in years, as he made his way to the Geyers’ house.


	12. The Introduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost 5k. I usually write 2-3k chapters for this. Just so you know. Also, I was going to add more to this chapter, but I think I need to save it for the next one. This is getting so out of hand lol
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS - thank you everyone for sticking with this crazy fic and for all of your kudos and comments! They always make my day!

“Theo!” Jenna smiled warmly when she opened the door, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you one on one – “

“Not right now,” Theo struggled a bit to detach Miki, who was clinging to him like her life depended on it. He finally got her off of his back and onto the ground, where she disappeared behind his legs, hugging one of them tightly. “I don’t know if Scott called you, but we kind of have an emergency.”

Jenna caught sight of Miki and knelt down, smiling warmly. “Hi, there, Sweetie” she said, “What’s your name?”

Miki hid closer to Theo’s leg, her claws growing out and piercing into his leg.

“Hey!” He bent down to unhook her claws from his leg. She gripped both of his hands tightly as her claws retracted, staying close to his legs, big chocolatey-brown eyes looking pleadingly up at him. “Hey, this is my friend Jenna. Remember I told you about her?” she nodded. “She’s going to help us find somewhere safe for you,” he continued, and Miki threw her arms tightly around his leg, burying her face into his thigh. He looked apologetically at Jenna.

“What happened?” she asked standing, clearly less concerned about not being Miki’s favorite than about how Theo had found her in the first place.

“I found her in the woods along with some bodies. I think her family has been dead for a couple days,” he explained quietly.

Miki pulled at the he of his running shorts and looked up at him again.

“What’s up?” he asked her.

“Up,” she said so quietly, he wasn’t sure Jenna could hear her, even standing feet away. She unwrapped one arm from his leg and extended it towards him.

It took Theo a minute to figure out what that meant, but then he reached down, scooping her up under the armpits and sitting her onto his hip. “My hips were _not_ made for this,” he told Jenna, who looked amused as Miki buried her face into Theo’s neck.

“It’s a good thing she likes you!” Jenna told him, “Why don’t you come inside and we’ll figure this out.”

Theo followed her into the kitchen, where she went immediately to the fridge, rummaging around and then coming up with orange juice and milk, which she set on the table in front of Theo along with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“Do you know her name?” she asked, sitting down across from them as Theo tried to maneuver Miki to the chair next to him. Every time he tried to detach her arms from around his neck, she clung tighter, so he finally gave up, sitting down and holding her carefully on his lap, afraid that she might fall off or maybe start clawing into his face again.

“I think it’s Miki,” he said slowly. He felt her head move in a nod against his shoulder, “But not like Micky Mouse.” He froze as a tiny laugh escaped Miki. She still hadn’t lifted her head to look at Jenna, but he felt less like he was being choked and as sad as it was, he hadn’t exactly expected to hear that innocent, lighthearted sound come from a little girl who had just experienced such terror as she almost certainly had.

Jenna smiled at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. “You are going to be a good dad someday, Theo Raeken,” she told him.

Theo frowned in confusion. He hadn’t really done anything.

“First things first,” Jenna changed topics, “Melissa needs to look her over and she needs to have something to eat. I have healthier things, but I’m trying to do whatever makes her most comfortable.”

Theo nodded and tried to look Miki in the face, which was nearly impossible to do. “Hey, Miki. Do you want some cookies? And orange juice or milk?”

Miki shook her head into the crook of Theo’s neck. This was not going to work. “Fine,” he said, reaching for a cookie, “I’ll eat all of them then.”

Miki looked up curiously as he took a bite of the cookie. “ _Mmmm_ ,” he said dramatically, not as though Jenna’s cookies weren’t spectacular, but still. “You want one?”

She stared from him to the cookie in his hand and then nodded slowly. Theo grabbed another cookie and passed it to her.

“Do you want orange juice too? Or milk?” he offered, as she clutched the cookie with both hands.

Her wide brown eyes turned to the drinks on the table and then to Jenna and then back to Theo. She reached up and whispered so quietly to him that even with the proximity and enhanced hearing, it still sounded quiet. Theo nodded and grabbed the bottle of orange juice, and then looked to Jenna.

“Do you think she needs a sippy cup or something?” he frowned.

“I don’t have any of those,” she poured out about a third of a cup full, “but she should be okay with this.”

As soon as Miki was situated with her food and drink, Theo turned back to Jenna. “What do we do now?” he asked.

“We try to find any family that she might have left. The sheriff will look into the deaths, and in the meantime, if her family isn’t close or it takes too long to find them, we may have to find a foster family for her,” she sighed, “Which is almost impossible with werewolves.”

Theo looked down at Miki, who was taking tiny bites from her cookie and chewing them delicately for a long time before swallowing. Like she was trying to make it last. Theo felt like something was breaking inside of him and then realized that it was probably his heart. He had been where she was before. So many times. Only years ago, he had been living in his car, accidentally choosing to park in the parking lot of Derek Hale’s building, and then being saved by a pair of electric blue eyes burning through his window. He didn’t ever want Miki to feel like that. He didn’t want anyone to feel like that.

“Can’t we…I don’t know, keep her here? With the pack?” he asked, “Just until we find her family?”

Jenna looked thoughtful. “It might be possible,” she said, standing as the doorbell rang, “I might know someone who can pull some strings. This should be Melissa now.”

Theo listened to the women at the door, speaking in hushed voices.

“Theo?” He looked down at Miki’s quiet voice.

“What’s up?” he asked, feeling himself flood suddenly with unexpected levels concern.

“I don’t want to go away. What if they get me again?” He had never seen eyes so big, so full of fear. And there was only one other person that he had ever felt such an instant need to protect.

“What if who get you again?” he asked.

“I like you because you turn into a wolf,” she told him, “They didn’t – “ she squeaked and buried her head in Theo’s shoulder again, arms flinging around his neck as Jenna and Melissa came into the room.

“Miki, Sweetie,” Jenna said carefully, wisely not getting too close, “This is Melissa. She’s a nurse. Can she check you over to make sure that you’re not hurt?”

Miki shook her head so vigorously that Theo was afraid that she might bump his chin and accidentally break his jaw.

“Miki,” he said quietly, his hand automatically smoothing over the back of her hair and then falling away, unsure if that was even helpful, “Can you look at me?”

There was a moment of stillness and then she lifted her head away from Theo’s shoulder to look at him. He took a deep breath. He was _so_ not cut out for this.

“We need to make sure that you aren’t hurt. We could take you to the hospital or we can have my friend Melissa look at you here. You can trust her, okay? I trust her,” he hadn’t been sure that that was true until now, but he also knew that he couldn’t lie to Miki. Melissa might always hate him, she might never trust him again, but that didn’t mean that Theo had to feel the same way.

Miki nodded slowly, and Theo moved the cookies aside to set her on the table.

“Hi, Miki,” Melissa said, pulling her stethoscope from around her neck, “I’m Melissa. Can I check your breathing and your heartbeat with this stethoscope?” She handed it over for Miki to look at, waiting patiently for the stethoscope and a tiny nod before proceeding.

“As far as I can tell everything is okay internally,” Melissa said after a quick checkup, “But she must have been out it the woods for a while. We might as well get her washed up while I check her over for any external injuries.”

Theo nodded.

“Miki, would you be okay with taking a bath so that Melissa can tell if you’re hurt?” Jenna asked.

Miki looked up at Theo who nodded and then nodded slowly.

“Okay, Melissa, can you run the bath upstairs?” Jenna asked, she reached out for Miki, who shrank back towards Theo.

“I’ll stay here,” Theo volunteered, fairly certain that he wasn’t needed. What he _did_ need was to call Scott. And Liam.

The others nodded, but when Jenna reached for Miki again, Miki screamed louder than Theo had ever heard anyone scream in his life, aside from maybe Lydia, and clung to Theo’s shirt, tiny claws poking holes through the fabric.

Theo and Jenna stared at each other with wide eyes, and Theo hefted Miki onto his hip again as he stood. “Or not,” he amended, “Miki, do you want me to come with you?”

She nodded vigorously.

“Okay, you can tell me, then. I’m not going to abandon you, but I don’t know what you want unless you use your words,” he told her softly.

Her claws retracted, and she looked up at him with watery golden eyes. “Please don’t go,” she sniffed.

“I won’t go,” he promised, and then looked at Jenna, who was smiling at him softly. “Upstairs?”

She nodded and they started to make their way towards the bathroom. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “I had meant to tell you – I know you were worrying about how much I spent on that wedding binder, and I know you’ll probably worry about even more things the closer we get to the wedding, but I want you to know, you always have my help. And David’s. Any kind of help you need. I really do consider you family already, whether you realize it or not, so – “

Theo’s throat tightened. For over an hour he had forgotten all about his and Liam’s fake engagement. It had been nice, not having that worry eating at him for once. This would have to end soon, before it went too far. Theo worried it already had gone too far. But Scott would understand whenever they _did_ tell him. Probably.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wishing he could physically walk out of the conversation, but pulled his phone out instead, “I need to call Scott.”

He tried not to see the sadness in her eyes, the same resigned sadness that he saw in Liam’s eyes when he made a joke that was a little too self-deprecating or tried to take a jab at him during an argument and ended up speaking some painful truth about himself instead. They should all hate him, he thought, carrying Miki into the bathroom, so why didn’t they?

“I’ll be right in the doorway,” he told Miki as he set her down, “I just have to call my alpha, okay?”

She nodded and went tentatively over to where Jenna and Melissa were testing the water temperature and getting out a towel and washcloth.

_My alpha_ , he thought. The words had fallen right out of his mouth, and he couldn’t help wondering if they were true. The phone ring in his ear as he waited for Scott to pick up.

“Hey, Theo,” Scott said, “We haven’t figured anything else out yet. I’m with the Sheriff right now, but – “

“I was talking to Miki,” Theo said quietly, “She thinks someone might still be after her. And she doesn’t really trust your mom or Jenna. I think she only lets me near her because I can full shift.”

Scott was quiet for a minute or two on the other end. “Hunters?” he asked.

“Maybe,” Theo replied, “I can’t ask – I don’t know if she would even know – “

“Hey, it’s okay,” Scott quickly assured him, “We’ll figure it out. That’s good to know, though, thank you.”

“Yeah,” Theo said, “No problem.”

“Was there something else?”

_Are you my alpha?_ It wasn’t a great conversation to have on the phone. “No – wait, yeah! You don’t happen to know anything about foster care for werewolves, do you? Jenna said she’d look into it, but I figured I’d ask.””

“I don’t,” Scott said apologetically, “I can ask Derek, though. Or Peter if I have to. They know more about that kind of thing.”

“Okay,” Theo exhaled, “Okay, good. Pack meeting tonight?”

“Yeah, seven?”

“I’ll be there. I need to call Liam now,” he said.

“Okay, tell him I say hi.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Bye Scott.”

He looked over at Miki as he pressed one on his speed dial. She seemed okay, if not totally thrilled, and there didn’t seem to be any external injuries from what he could see.

“Theo?” Liam’s voice asked, the sound of it soothing Theo’s nerves until he leaned back against the doorframe, tension that he hadn’t even realized was there easing out of his body. “I’m at work, what’s up?”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Theo said quickly, “We just sort of have a situation and I wanted you to know about it before you got home.”

There was a pause at the other end and then the sound of a door closing. “Is it serious?” Liam was asking suddenly, “Do you need me to come meet you?”

“No,” Theo assured him, “No, Scott’s in the woods right now. I’m sure he would call you if he needed more help, but besides calling in the Sheriff, I don’t think there’s a lot you can really do about dead bodies.”

“Theo! Dead bodies? What happened, are you okay?” Liam asked, sounding slightly panicked.

“I’m fine, I didn’t see what happened to them,” Theo assured him, “I just found the bodies while I was on my run.”

Liam swore.

“And there was a little girl there,” he continued, “I think it was her family, in the woods. We think maybe it was hunters. She wants nothing to do with Melissa or your mom and she won’t let me out of her sight.”

Liam swore again, sounding tired this time. “At least she trusts you,” he said, “You’ll have to take her back to the house when you’re done at Mom and Dad’s. I’m assuming there’s a pack meeting tonight?”

“Yeah,” Theo confirmed. He wished he could see Liam’s face, if for no other reason than the extra comfort.

“We haven’t had hunters in Beacon Hills for a while,” Liam said quietly.

“I know, Li,” Theo returned in a similarly quiet tone, “It won’t be like last time.”

“No,” Liam agreed, “That still doesn’t make it a good thing.”

“No,” Theo agreed.

“I’ll see you at home, okay?” Liam said, “I have to get back to work. Call me immediately if you need anything.”

“Okay, I know,” Theo replied, glancing over to Miki again, only to be intercepted by a small, fond smile from Jenna. “Bye Hot Stuff. Love you.”

Liam made a noise at the other end of the phone, maybe surprise at the sentiment or indignation at the nickname. Either way, it made Theo smile.

“Love you too,” Liam said finally, both of them hesitating for a moment, wondering who was going to hang up, but then there was the sound of water being sucked down the drain of the bathtub and Theo ended the call, turning back to Miki even as his head swam with Liam’s words. _He didn’t have to say that_ , he thought, blinking as Miki allowed herself to be helped back into her clothes.

“She’s okay,” Melissa told him, “I didn’t find any injuries, internal or external. I would guess that if she was injured at all, she probably spent enough time hiding in the woods for it to heal. She’s undernourished and dehydrated, but not severely. I would say it was only a few days at most.”

Theo nodded, heart aching for the little girl letting Jenna dry her hair with a towel as Miki sent suspicious looks her way.

“Do you need me to take a look at those?” Melissa asked. Theo looked at her and realized that she was gesturing to the scratches on his legs and arms.

“They’re healing,” he assured her, “Just not as fast as usual. I don’t know why – “

“Because she’s a kid,” Melissa said softly, “Scott and Malia get their fair share of those too when Allie shifts her teeth or claws.”

“Allie doesn’t shift all the way, though,” Theo realized, “And I would think she’s older than Miki.”

“No,” Melissa agreed, “But she hasn’t been through what Miki’s been through.”

“Theo,” Miki whispered, pulling on the hem of his shorts and reaching up again.

He picked her up without question this time and looked at the two women in front of him as she buried her face into his neck once more. “What now?” he asked.

“You can stay here if you want,” Jenna said, “My house is always open to you. But I think I’m going to have to go into the office to see if I can find out anything about werewolves in foster care.”

“I’ll take her back to my house,” Theo said, suddenly realizing why Miki always hid her face in his neck or shirt. “I don’t think she likes the smell here. No offense.”

Jenna smiled. “None taken. I’m assuming it’s a werewolf thing.”

“She can tell that humans live here, and I think it makes her uncomfortable,” Theo explained.

Jenna nodded. “Okay,” she agreed, “Do you need a ride? You looked like you ran here.”

“A ride would be perfect,” Theo agreed.

 

Theo thanked Jenna and carried Miki up the steps to the front door. She was staring around now with wide eyes, head snapping around as the wind rustled through the branches of the tree behind them. Theo wasn’t sure if he was relieved that Bea’s red car was gone from the driveway or not. He had forgotten that there was a human living in the house, but he was sure her absence would be easier on Miki.

Inside, he looked around as Miki subtly scented the air. He wasn’t sure what to do with her until Liam got home or it was time to leave for the pack meeting. There were no toys aside from Liam’s Xbox, which he couldn’t imagine Miki would be very interested in, and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to childproof anything, in case she wanted to run around. She was so small, but she was also tough as nails, which the slowly healing slashes on his arms and legs reminded him.

“Do you want to paint with me?” he asked. It was sort of like coloring, maybe, and he hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to work on any of his projects lately.

She nodded, eyes still big, and he carried her upstairs to the small room where all of his painting supplies were stored. It was mostly boxes still, but his easel and stool were unpacked and his watercolors were out on top of the box next to it.

“I’m going to put you down, okay?” he asked.

Miki nodded and allowed herself to be set on her feet.

“This is my water cup,” Theo explained, plucking the empty tin can off of the box, where it had been sitting next to his water colors and brushes, “I think it’s missing something.”

Miki peered into the cup. “Water?” she asked, curiosity spreading across her face.

“I think you’re right,” Theo agreed, “Let’s go fill it up in the bathroom.” He pointed over his shoulder.

She nodded very seriously and followed him across the hall. Theo filled the cup about halfway with water and then held it out to her. “Do you want to carry it back?” Allie always liked to be entrusted with things like that. Theo knew, obviously, that they weren’t the same person, but she and Storm were the only experience he really had with kids.

She nodded, taking the can gingerly, and carrying it very carefully back across the hall. Theo asked her to set the cup down on the box and then rummaged around in one of the other boxes for his smaller easel some poster board that he had left over from college or maybe even high school. He showed Miki how to set the paper up on the easel and the differences between some of his brushes, how to dip the brush into the water and _then_ into the paint before putting it on the paper.

Once she was settled, steadily painting her whole paper green, Theo took the dark water color painting with only hints of brown and red and orange from his easel, setting it aside on top of one of the boxes, and then pulling out a fresh sheet of paper. He was halfway through layering acrylic over acrylic, color over color, hours later, stopping only to get Miki fresh paper or a snack, when he finally put his brush down and looked at what he had been making. A pair of eyes, the shape of a wolf’s but a familiar shade of sky blue. The rest of the canvas was blank, but the eyes were large, taking up nearly the entire canvas, the color incredibly detailed, with colors and shades drawn from a memory that could never disappear.

“Who is that?” Miki asked, “It looks like a wolf.”

Theo looked down at her. There was paint on her face and her hands. “Um. It’s Liam,” he admitted, surprised at himself. He had never told anyone who that shade of blue was that made its way into everything he painted. Cecily might have guessed, but she would be the only one. “He’s my friend – my fiancé.”

Miki stared in horror. “You lied,” she told him.

“No!” Theo backtracked quickly, “No, we really are engaged, I just don’t think we’re actually going to get married.” And _why_ was he explaining this to a child who probably had no idea what he was talking about? “We just don’t want anyone to know that we might not get married.”

Miki narrowed her eyes but then shrugged, much more interested in going back to her painting of Theo had no idea what, than the complexities of Theo’s personal life. He couldn’t help but be relieved.

Theo’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, trying to keep his paint stained fingers off of the screen. Liam.

_I’ll be home in like 15 minutes. Maybe give the kid some warning if she’s there. Scott says we’re having dinner at his place._

Theo smiled a little, and texted back _K._ knowing that it would piss Liam off.

“Hey, so Liam’s going to be home in about fifteen minutes,” Theo told her, “Do you think that will be okay?”

Miki looked considering. “You won’t leave, will you?” she asked.

“No,” Theo assured her, “I’ll be right here. And Liam is my friend. I think you’ll like him. He’s silly sometimes and he’s not very good at painting, not like you are.”

Miki let out a tiny giggle. “Did he give you your ring?” she asked suddenly.

Theo glanced down at his pinky. “Uh…yeah,” he said.

Miki nodded with satisfaction and went back to painting. Theo started to clean up his brushes and paints, eyes flickering occasionally back to the painting that still rested on the easel, blue eyes stark against the white canvas. He took it down and set it on top of one of the boxes, replacing the easel with the dark painting again as he heard the familiar sound of his truck on the gravel outside.

Miki stiffened.

“It’s Liam,” he told her.

She didn’t relax but took Theo’s hand when he held it out to her and allowed him to lead her out of the room and carefully down the stairs. They made it to the landing as the door opened, and Theo, who had been watching Miki carefully as she took the stairs one at a time, lifted his eyes to meet Liam’s. He watched Liam’s eyes flicker to Miki and then scan over Theo’s body.

“You’re hurt,” he realized, “You told me you were okay.”

“Liam – “ Theo tried.

“Why haven’t you healed yet?” Liam demanded.

“Liam,” Theo said commandingly. Liam’s eyed met his again. “This is Miki. She’s a little shy, so…” he knelt next to her. “Miki, this is Liam, who I was telling you about.” She nodded, eyes fixed on Liam, even as she clung tightly to Theo’s hand, her body turning slightly in towards him.

Liam seemed to remember something, swinging his backpack around to his front, unzipping it and pulling out something big and green, bending down to be on eye level with Miki and Theo.

“Hi Miki,” he said, holding out what Theo realized was a stuffed turtle with big googly eyes, “I brought a toy for you, cause I don’t think we have a lot of toys in our house. Do you know what it is?”

“A sea turtle,” she whispered.

Liam grinned. Theo couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He didn’t know why he was so surprised that Liam would have thought to get Miki a toy, but he was. And this somehow was making him fall even more in love with him than he had been before.

“It’s yours,” Liam told Miki, “You can have it.”

“Like your ring?” she asked Theo with wide eyes.

Liam looked at him questioningly and Theo felt himself blush. “This one,” Theo held up his left hand, “She asked if you gave it to me.”

“Uh…” Liam said, clearly not feeling up to explaining everything towards a tiny girl he had just met. “Sort of?”

She took the sea turtle plushie gingerly, and stuck her nose into it, inhaling. Theo was surprised again as her hold loosened on his hand and she moved towards Liam. She took another deep inhale when she was close enough to Liam and then turned to Theo with wide eyes.

“He smells like you,” she said, “You smell like him.”

Theo and Liam looked at each other again. “Is that a good thing?” Theo asked.

 Miki nodded, clutching her sea turtle tightly and Theo felt himself relax slightly.

“Are you sure?” he asked, “Cause I haven’t had a shower today, so I’m kind of stinky.”

Miki giggled and Liam smiled at him. “You have paint in your hair,” he said a little too gently, reaching out to pick some flakes of blue paint out of Theo’s hair. Their eyes met and Theo felt his breath catch.

“You can take a shower,” Liam said, clearing his throat as the moment broke, “I can hang out with Miki, right Miki?”

She looked at him with big eyes and then turned to look at Theo. “Is he a wolf?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” he assured her. “Can you shift for her?” he asked Liam.

Liam nodded and shifted his face and claws, letting Miki get a good look at him before shifting back.

“What do you think?” he asked, “Want to watch some cartoons with me while Stinky Theo takes a shower?”

She looked hesitantly at Theo, who nodded at her, and then nodded at Liam, taking his offered hand and reluctantly letting Theo’s go.

Liam and Theo stood, and Theo turned towards the stairs. “Hey,” Liam caught his hand and pulled him in for a quick press of their lips, “Take your time.”

Liam knew almost everything about Theo. It shouldn't have been so surprising that he knew that showering was therapeutic for him, but it made him smile as his heart clenched anyways.

“Thank you,” he said, giving Liam’s hand a squeeze before releasing it and making his way up the stairs.


	13. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/3 plot, 1/3 Theo growing as a person, 1/3 Thiam being completely adorable!
> 
> Just FYI, my life is about to get totally insane, so within the next few chapters, the time between updates will probably get a lot longer. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long, but that's just what will be happening. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS - I think I found a show that is even worse than this fic in terms of total denial about feelings and just acting like it's totally normal to spoon on the beach at sunset (it was really one of those bizarre moments when you sit there and say "wait. I wrote this fic already"). It's a hot mess of a show, but this is a hot mess of a fic, so :) And no, I wasn't really going anywhere with this, I just thought I'd share! :D

Miki was fine until they stepped into Scott’s house. After how she had reacted to Liam, how easily she had warmed up to him once she realized that he was a werewolf, Theo had figured that a house of mostly werewolves should have been okay. Clearly, he hadn’t taken into account the sheer size of the McCall pack these days.

One second he was following Liam through Scott’s front door, Miki walking very well on her own, her hand loosely in Theo’s as she climbed up the steps, and the next second, Theo was being climbed like a tree. He felt sure that she would climb all the way up to the top of his head, but he caught her in his arms ad allowed her to bury her face away from the world and into his increasingly familiar scent.

“Hey, Li?” he asked as they paused the hallway.

Liam turned to face him and frowned, coming closer to talk to Miki. “Hey, are you okay? It’s just our pack here. Nobody’s going to hurt you,” he said, his hand came up comfortingly, but brushed Theo’s arm instead of Miki’s back. It sent shivers down Theo’s spine.

She pressed her face further into Theo’s neck.

“It’s okay,” Theo said quietly, feeling no need to speak much louder than a whisper when he and Liam were so close they were practically breathing the same air. “We have to go in. She can stay like this if it makes her more comfortable.”

Liam looked doubtful but picked the stuffed turtle up from where she had dropped it and stayed very close to Theo all the way into the living room. The pack fell silent as they walked in, and Theo could feel Miki tense up in his arms as Liam hovered close enough to be constantly brushing against Theo in some way. He wasn’t sure if it was infuriatingly distracting or amazingly comforting. Maybe a little bit of both.

“Is this Miki?” Scott asked finally, standing up.

“Yeah,” Liam said, “She’s a little shy though, so…”

Scott nodded, wisely staying back. He must have talked to his mom already, Theo thought, glancing over to where Melissa and Liam’s parents all had their heads together.

“Let’s start out with what happened in the woods and then we’ll get to her when she’s more used to us,” he said, “Derek and Stiles’s dad and I took a look around the clearing and at the bodies. We’re pretty sure that they were killed by other werewolves, although I don’t think we’re ready to dismiss the hunters theory yet.” He glanced at Stiles, who nodded. “For the amount of damage and blood loss in the bodies and the lack of blood in the area, we’re guessing that they weren’t killed there, although I really don’t know why they would drag the bodies all the way out there if that’s the case.”

The Sheriff cleared his throat and the pack’s eyes turned to him. “I have the lab working on getting some IDs on those bodies as we speak, but it may take a while. In the meantime, the Sheriff’s station has all hands on deck, and Scott’s asking some of you to reach out to packs in the area to see if they know anything about this.”

“I’ll also be putting out feelers into the hunter communities,” Argent added, “Especially if hunters are somehow making deaths look like werewolf killings, we need to know about it.”

“That brings us to Jenna and to the Hales,” Scott continued, “Peter and Derek are researching foster care for werewolves with Stiles’s help, and Jenna was looking into it from the legal side of things.” He looked at her, inviting her to speak.

“I haven’t found much yet, but it’s looking like it isn’t unusual to go without help from any national systems, especially in cases where the child has been traumatized and induced into their shift early,” Jenna said, “Mostly it sounds like packs work out their own systems amongst themselves, so it might not be unusual if this pack were to take her in until we find out if any of her pack are still alive and willing to take her in.”

Malia and Scott looked at each other. “Scott and I have already talked about it,” Malia said, “And we would be willing to take Miki in for as long as we need to.”

Theo felt his stomach sink. It was the best plan that they could come up with, really, he knew. Scott and Malia already had two kids and were already responsible and prepared enough to take on a third. Theo and Liam weren’t even _actually_ engaged. They had a tiny house with no toys and only one bed because they still hadn’t had time to go out and get another one. At this point, Theo wasn’t even sure if they were even trying or if they would _ever_ try. As messed up as it was, he was used to sleeping next to Liam, and even if Liam had no romantic feelings for him, he had yet to offer up any suggestions except for continuing to share one bed that was maybe slightly too small.

Besides all of that, and besides Liam having an internship that barely paid enough and Theo not actually even _having_ a job yet, there was still the entire fact of Theo’s past. Sure, Liam didn’t always have the best temperament, but Theo was straight-up _not_ a good person. Well, he hadn’t been. He wasn’t so sure where his morality lay now, but at one point it had been black as night. A murderer shouldn’t be allowed to raise a child. No matter how little the child seemed to care about the dark paintings in his studio, the constant rotting scent of guilt around him, the chemically feel of being not wolf and not coyote. A stomach that didn’t squirm at the sight of rotting flesh and exposed bone.

Miki deserved better. So, he realized with a jolt, did Liam. _How could I ever imagine he might want me someday?_ Theo wondered, feeling sudden overwhelming hopelessness, and then arms wrapping around him.

“Are you okay?” Liam whispered, “You look a little freaked out.” He was hugging Theo somehow from a sitting position next to him. The angle was a little awkward, but not uncomfortable, and Theo couldn’t help but lean into it.

“I’m fine,” he lied, feeling the blip of his own heart making it obvious.

Liam watched him suspiciously but said nothing, and Theo slipped his free arm around Liam’s waist, keeping him close, as if Liam would ever let go.

“I know you’re worried about her, Theo,” Scott said gently, “But we’ll all be taking care of her together. The whole pack. You included.”

 _You included._ There is was again. Theo had never believed for one minute that he was anything more than a useful ally to the McCall pack, if that. He always imagined that Scott referred to him as pack once he and Liam got “engaged” because it would have been awkward if he hadn’t and Scott was just nice like that. But as he looked around, nobody argued. Nobody’s eyebrows twitched, and nobody’s lips turned even slightly towards a frown. Some of them were even nodding. Like Theo being a part of the pack was common knowledge and had been for a while. Theo didn’t say anything.

“Okay,” Scott continued, “Pack meeting adjourned! Feel free to hang out and eat some food if you want to!”

The rest of the pack started breaking off into groups, talking amongst themselves or shouting out goodbyes to Scott and the others on their way out the door, but Scott made his way across the room to them.

“Hey, Miki,” He said softly, crouching in front of the sofa, “My name’s Scott. I’m the Alpha of this pack. Can you look at me?”

Miki shook her head, arms tightening around Theo’s neck.

“Miki,” he said quietly to her, “Scott’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you.”

“He’s going to take me away,” she whispered.

Theo froze. He hadn’t realized that she had been listening to the pack’s conversation. He glanced at Liam.

“He’s not taking you away,” Liam assured her, “You’re going to stay with the pack and then we’ll all take care of you until we find your family.”

“I wanna stay with Theo!” she said more loudly, turning her head so she could actually be heard.

“Don’t you want to play with some other kids?” Liam tried, “Scott has a daughter that’s almost your age.”

“No!” Miki sobbed, her voice rising, “I wanna stay with Theo!”

Theo grimaced, unsure what to do.

“Miki.” Scott’s voice left no room for argument and his eyes glowed red. She lifted her head and looked at him, tears still leaking from amber eyes. “Do you want to stay with Theo and Liam until we find your family?”

She nodded, sniffling.

“The rest of the pack is going to check up on you from time to time,” Scott continued, “And if Liam and Theo have other things to do, they might have to leave you with one of the other pack members, is that okay?”

She looked up at Theo and Liam and then back at Scott, nodding again.

Scott turned his attention to Theo and Liam. “I’m sorry, I should have asked you guys first. Do you want – “

“Yes,” Theo said immediately.

Scott’s eyes moved to Liam.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“It’s a lot of work,” Scott warned them, “Your life will be totally different for however long she’s with us.”

“I know,” Theo said, “Just…I think it’s better for her.”

Scott and Liam nodded. “I think you’re right,” Scott agreed, standing up, “I think we might have some extra clothes and things that Allie’s grown out of. I’ll go look.”

Theo thought for a minute and then looked down at Miki. “Can you stay with Liam for a minute?” he asked, “I need to talk to Scott.”

She nodded and allowed herself to be passed over to Liam who looked up at Theo questioningly.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, and then followed Scott out of the room. He found him in the laundry room down the hall, digging through one of the boxes there.

“Thanks for doing this,” he said, after pausing in the doorway for a minute or two.

Scott looked over his shoulder and smiled. “You’re going to need all the help you can get, trust me,” he told him, “Besides, I said we would help, didn’t I?”

“Are you my alpha?” Theo asked suddenly, surprising both himself and Scott, who nearly cracked his head on the shelf as he stood up again.

“What?” he asked, rubbing the top of his head.

“Um…I just…I don’t know if – “

“If I’m your alpha,” Scott guessed, “Do you want me to be?”

Theo shrugged, sticking his hands into his pockets and letting his eyes fall to the floor.

“It’s not some formal process or anything,” he said, “I told you, I consider you pack. If you want me to be your alpha, then I am. Easy as that.”

Theo watched him stuff a pile of tiny clothes into a plastic shopping bag and then tie the handles at the top. “When I see how you run this pack,” he said slowly, “It makes me wonder why I ever wanted to be an alpha myself. I don’t think I could ever do it.”

“Power,” Scott explained, “Most people want the power, but it’s like Stiles says, _with great power comes great responsibility_. If that’s your only reason for wanting to be an alpha, you’re never going to make it.”

Theo blinked at him. “You know that’s from Spiderman, right?” he asked, “Stiles is quoting Spiderman when he says that to you.”

Scott stared at him with big eyes. “Uh…yeah. Sure. I mean, duh.”

Theo grinned and shook his head, accepting the bag of clothes that Scott held out to him.

“Hey, so…not to pressure you or anything, but… _am_ I your alpha?” Scott asked as they left the laundry room, making their way back down the hall towards the living room.

Theo glanced sideways at him. He wanted to say no. To isolate himself further. To ask why Scott would ever even _want_ to be his alpha. “Yeah,” he said instead, feeling a small smile slide onto his lips, “Yeah, I think so.”

Scott grinned his biggest, dopiest puppy grin and Theo found himself suddenly wondering why he had to continuously doubt himself when someone like Scott McCall was so happy to call him a friend.

 

The dilemma of where everyone should sleep was waiting for them when they got home. Liam carried a practically sleeping Miki inside and then looked around.

“Couch?” he asked.

Theo shook his head. “I don’t want to leave her down here by herself. We’ll have to get a bed for the other room tomorrow. She can sleep in our bed tonight.”

Liam’s blue eyes widened at him. “What about us?” he asked.

“We’ll get to that. Let’s put her to bed first,” Theo said, pushing Liam gently towards the stairs with a hand to his lower back and then quickly snatched it away again once he realized what he was doing.

It didn’t take long to find an extra toothbrush for Miki and get her to brush her teeth and change into something that wasn’t covered in dirt and dried blood and paint. By the time Theo pulled the covers up to her chin, she was asking for a bedtime story with her voice sleepy and her eyes already closed.

“What do we do?” Liam whispered as Theo joined him in the doorway, the light from the hall creating a beautiful silhouette.

“You take the couch,” Theo told him, hand coming up to brush Liam’s elbow where his arms were crossed, and then dropping back to his side again, “I’ll sleep in the other room up here.”

“On what? The floor?” Liam hissed.

“Yeah – “

“I was joking!”

“What if she wakes up and we don’t hear her?” Theo asked, “One of us should be up here and you have work tomorrow, so you get the couch.”

“Theo, we’re werewolves. We’ll hear her,” Liam said, arms dropping to his sides.

“What if she thinks we left? I don’t want her to think we abandoned her after everything that happened,” Theo insisted.

Warm fingers slipped over his own, covering them and then slotting through his. “Theo,” Liam said softly, “She’s a werewolf too. She’ll know we haven’t left. Now stop worrying and come sleep on the couch with me.”

Theo stared at him, face a duality of shadows and light, and his thumb swept over the back of Liam’s hand. He couldn’t think straight. He had a vague notion that the couch probably wasn’t meant for two people to sleep on, so he let Liam lead him into the bathroom to brush their teeth silently side by side, and then pause by the door to their bedroom to see Miki still sleeping soundly before making their way downstairs.

“I don’t know how you think this is going to work,” Theo said quietly as he followed Liam into the living room, “It’s not a pullout, you know that right?”

“I’m not an idiot,” Liam told him, rolling his eyes as he undid the button on his pants. Theo looked away as he pulled them all the way off and tossed them on top of the coffee table. “We’ll fit.”

Theo looked at him again, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“Theo, you’re not sleeping on the floor,” Liam insisted, “Just stop with the self-sacrificing bullshit for one night and come to bed.” He sat on the couch, reaching out to catch Theo’s wrist and pulled him down next to him, pushing him down onto the couch and pulling the throw blanket off of the back to cover them, slotting himself in behind Theo and moving around a lot before throwing one arm over his stomach, his breath tickling the back of Theo’s neck.

“I’m going to fall off,” Theo whispered through the dark.

Liam’s arm tightened around him. “No, you’re not,” he said.

Theo looked doubtfully at the millimeter or two of couch between him and the floor. “Liam, if you move around half as much as you do in an actual bed I’m going to be on the floor by midnight.” He wasn’t prepared for the way Liam’s forehead dropped gently against the back of his own head.

“Okay,” Liam revised, turn around. He pulled at the front of Theo’s shirt, and Theo rotated to face Liam, who then manhandled him onto his back and scooted down until his head was resting on Theo’s chest. He squirmed around a little more before sitting up. “Take your pants off,” he demanded.

“What?” Theo panicked, “No!”

“Yes! Come on, you’re wearing jeans and their uncomfortable!” Liam complained.

“Liam,” Theo argued, “I’m not taking off my pants.”

“ _Please?_ ” Theo couldn’t see his face very well, but that was probably for the best since he was pretty sure that Liam was giving him that ridiculously adorable pout that usually meant Theo would cave in the next thirty seconds.

“Okay, fine. Get off of me,” he sat up, pushing at Liam’s chest until he move out of the way enough for Theo to wiggle out of his pants, tossing them in the general direction of the coffee table before laying back down, Liam swiftly finding his way back on top of him and drawing the blanket over them again. It was too comfortable. Without the rough protection of denim between them, Theo could feel every inch of Liam’s body against his own. He could feel the soft flesh, the hard muscles, the tickle of leg hair against his own. None of those things on their own were at all new, but all together the sensation nearly made Theo’s brain short circuit. And that was without the constant underlying thought that Liam’s dick was only an inch from his. After a minute, Liam moved down until he was mostly laying between Theo’s legs, but with his head pillowed on his arms, resting on Theo’s chest. The good part was that their dicks were no longer touching (not that all of Theo seemed to agree on that point) but he was sure that Liam could still feel his against his stomach. And _that_ – that was a thought that he couldn’t afford to have right now.

“So…” he said, racking his brain for a safe topic, “How was your fist day at your internship?”

Liam’s eyes sparkled through the darkness. “It was so cool,” he gushed, “They started working on it six weeks ago, but they’re just getting into the archives now. There’s some really fascinating stuff in there. And the archaeology team found a notebook or a diary or something. They think it’s in Japanese, but we’ve got people who can translate it. Almost the whole book is intact, which is really cool. And rare, given what happened there. It might even give us some documented evidence about Oak Creek being an actual place, since a lot of the official records were destroyed.”

“That’s awesome,” Theo hummed, “Is it as cool as you thought it would be?”

Liam rested his chin on top of his folded hands, looking at Theo. “Better,” he sighed, “I can’t believe they’re actually paying me to do this.”

Theo smiled and extracted one of his hands from behind his head to push Liam’s hair back out of his eyes. Liam smiled, leaned up to kiss him, and then settled back down as if nothing had happened.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Theo breathed.

Liam frowned a little, his eyebrows scrunching together adorably. “I thought you were okay with it. Are you not okay with it?”

“I’m – “ Theo paused, unsure of how to tell Liam how completely and totally okay with it he actually was without accidentally confessing everything. Liam made everything so easy. Sometimes too easy. “It’s fine. I…like it.” He was grateful that Liam couldn’t see him blush.

“I like it too,” Liam said quietly, “It…I feel closer to you. I don’t know why people don’t do it more often.”

Theo rolled his eyes fondly. Liam had always been more physically expressive than anyone Theo had ever known. Not just with him, but with Mason, with Scott, with his parents. A lot of hugs, or if he got mad enough and you happened to be able to heal, a lot of hitting. It was one of the things that Theo had first liked about him. Human contact, even the negative kind, was so rare in Theo’s childhood through adolescence that Liam’s use of it was jarring at first. And Theo couldn’t get enough.

“You’re one of a kind, Liam Dunbar,” Theo told him, readjusting his head so that he could smile down at him. Liam grinned back, catching Theo’s free hand with his own and bringing it to his lips.

“So it’s okay?” he asked.

“It’s okay,” Theo agreed.

They lay in silence for a minute or two. Theo would have assumed that Liam had fallen asleep, but his fingers were playing gently with Theo’s, his head turned to the side, ear against Theo’s heart.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said.

“Never a good sign,” Theo said grimly, earning a kick to the calf.

“I’ve been thinking about our names,” Liam continued, sounding only slightly annoyed, “If anyone asks what we’re doing about them.”

“Yeah?” Theo asked, hesitant but curious.

“If it was up to me, I would want to change my last name completely,” he said, “How important is Raeken to you?”

Theo shrugged. “I’m not too attached to it,” he admitted, leaving unspoken all of the history that name held for him, the violent and the tragic. He couldn’t remember much of the good in his childhood, if he was honest. But he knew that Liam knew. “Why?”

“What would you think about both of us taking Geyer?” Liam asked softly. His heart was beating quickly over Theo’s abdomen. It wasn’t often that Theo saw him this genuinely nervous.

“I think,” Theo licked his lips, feeling an overwhelming surge of love towards Liam’s family, “I think that would be really nice…”

“But?”

Theo extracted his other arm from behind his head where it was starting to grown numb and place his hand flat on Liam’s back for lack of anywhere else to put it. “Liam. I’m with you for as long as you need me, but…I have to know how long you’re planning on dragging this out. Is all of this really worth it to make Scott think that you’re happy?”

Liam dropped his head onto Theo’s chest. “Do we _have_ to talk about it?” he asked, voice muffled by Theo’s shirt.

“Yes,” Theo insisted, automatically smoothing a hand down Liam’s back. “I’m in it till the end, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt. And I think Scott would understand.”

Liam lifted his head to meet Theo’s eyes. “I just – “ he paused, apparently changing his mind, and started again. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” Theo replied unhesitatingly, searching Liam’s clear blue eyes for a sign of why it mattered.

“Then, then just go with it, okay? I need to – I just need time, okay?” Liam pleaded.

Theo squeezed the hand he was still holding lightly. He wanted to know _why;_ what Liam could possibly need more time for, but he forced that down. Liam was asking Theo to trust him. “Okay,” he agreed.

Liam hesitated, leaned up for another ephemeral kiss, and then laid his head on Theo’s chest again.

“How are we supposed to take care of a kid?” Theo sighed, “We can barely take care of our own shit.”

“I know,” Liam agreed, sounding half asleep already, “That’s what the pack is for. They’ll help us.”

Theo frowned, running his hand over Liam’s back again. Liam made the most adorable noise he was pretty sure he had ever heard and somehow burrowed closer, so he continued to let his hand move up and down the expanse of Liam’s back, fingers sometimes trailing over the skin between the hem of his shirt and the waistband of his boxers.

“Dude, you’re thinking too much,” Liam mumbled into his chest. Theo’s lips twitched into a small smile. “You’re going to give me a headache.”

“Don’t think that’s how it works, Li,” Theo teased.

“Is,” Liam argued, his body already feeling heavier against Theo’s. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though. Liam was heavy, but Theo really didn’t mind being partially crushed if it meant he had Liam in his arms. The steady rhythm of Liam’s breathing was eventually what lulled him to sleep.


	14. The List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update! My life has gotten really crazy in the past two weeks and I don’t have internet in my new apartment yet, so please be patient with me. I’m trying my best to finish this fic eventually, but I keep starting other things and getting distracted and not having time to post things, so yeah. That’s just how things are going right now.   
> Hopefully this chapter makes up for everything, but let me know what you think!  
> Also, tiny disclaimer, there is more sexual content in this chapter, but the whole dicks on dicks thing is still anatomically confusing to me, so let me know if it makes absolutely no sense and I’ll try to fix it! (Also this fic may or may not eventually get to an E rating, just FYI, but I’m not sure yet).   
> Okay, I think that’s it for now!   
> Enjoy! And thank you all for sticking with this fic! (I’m going to reply to all comments eventually, I promise!)
> 
> PS – all the sexual content is right at the beginning, if you want to skip it

Theo woke up, hardly able to breathe. Liam was fully on top of him now, his entire body weighing Theo down. A small puddle of drool was cold and wet against Theo’s chest, and Liam’s lips were pressed into his collar bone. He was halfway back to sleep when Liam shifted against him, and _Oh. That felt good._

Another brush of Liam’s half hard dick against his own sent a shock through Theo’s body, his hips rising to chase that feeling. Before his brain could rise from the haze of sleep enough to start forming any semblance of logical thought, Liam moved again, this time feeling more purposeful, even as his eyes stayed closed, breathing still slow with sleep.

Theo let his tired eyelids fall closed too, still hovering in the dreamlike state between asleep and awake as he shifted around to line them up more exactly, keeping the pressure from slipping away. Liam hummed into his shoulder, fingers tracing up Theo’s body to the back of his neck as he rubbed against Theo’s length, pressing more firmly into him. Theo’s hands drifted down, hesitating at Liam’s lower back until he bucked into him hard enough for Theo’s brain to fully short circuit. He gasped, hands palming Liam’s ass to pull him closer, maximizing the friction, both of them now fully hard.

Liam breathed, openmouthed into his neck as they rutted more vigorously against each other. Theo tipped his head to the side, wanting to give Liam access to anything he wanted, moaning as Liam hiked a leg up by Theo’s hip to give them a better angle.

Both of their eyes snapped open, and suddenly Liam’s weight disappeared from Theo’s body leaving him feeling cold and lightheaded and still ridiculously hard. Judging from the tent in Liam’s boxers where he stood a few feet away from Theo, eyes wide, the feeling was mutual.

“Fuck, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have – I didn’t think – “

“Liam, it’s fine,” Theo assured him, “It was my fault too.” He felt like his entire face was on fire.

Liam’s eyes dropped to Theo’s lap, where the wet spot on his underwear was brushing uncomfortably against his erection. _Don’t make it weird,_ Theo told himself. _It’s only weird if you make it weird_. He was pretty sure it was already weird anyways.

“We were both asleep,” Liam said. Theo wasn’t sure which on of them he was trying to convince, “It doesn’t count, right?” He didn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of Theo’s bulge.

“Right,” Theo said bravely, even as some tiny, hopeful part of his heart sank.

Liam’s eyes met his finally, his entire face flushed pink. He cleared his throat. “I’m, um…I’m going to go take a shower.”

Theo nodded, and Liam all but ran for the stairs.

With Liam in the shower, probably for an extended amount of time, and Miki (shit, he was really a terrible guardian already) bound to wake up and come looking for them any minute, Theo had few choices. He closed himself into the tiny downstairs bathroom and sat on the toilet. It wasn’t the most elegant way to get off, and usually he wouldn’t let himself think of the fact that Liam was probably upstairs in the shower doing the same exact thing, but the idea alone brought him to the edge and  before he could stop himself, he was letting go, coming embarrassingly quickly, only taking a breath afterwards to calm his heart rate before setting about cleaning the bathroom within an inch of its life.

He was somewhat satisfied with it by the time Liam came downstairs, clean and freshly dressed, holding Miki’s hand down the stairs as she gripped the railing with the other hand, working her way carefully down. It was unfairly adorable.

“Morning Miki,” he said, noticing how Liam’s eyes didn’t quite meet his, but the pink flush returned to his face. They really should talk about what had happened, but Theo had a feeling that they weren’t going to.

“Hi, Theo,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “It smells funny down here.”

Damnit.

“That’s just because Theo hasn’t taken a shower yet,” Liam said easily, making his way into the kitchen to dig around for breakfast. “And Theo gets pretty stinky when he hasn’t taken a shower.”

“That’s true,” Miki agreed, gravely as Theo lifted her onto a chair at the kitchen table.

“Hey!” he complained in mock offense. “No ganging up on me!” he pinched Liam in the side as he passed him to get milk and orange juice out of the fridge. Liam leapt about a foot in the air and spun around to glare at him, sending Theo into a fit of laughter as Miki giggled at the table. “Oh my god, Li, you looked like such an idiot.”

“Shut up,” Liam grumbled with a small smile, “Do you need to shower before I leave?”

“Can I eat first?” he asked, voice dripping in sarcasm as he brought the cereal that Liam liked and two bowls to the table.

“I guess,” Liam huffed, “Miki, do you want cereal or Poptarts?”

“Mmm Poptarts!” she said, kicking her legs, “Why does your cereal look like that?”

“Because Liam is an unhealthy brat who thinks that Poptarts and Lucky Charms are their own food group,” Theo explained.

Liam frowned as he opened a pack of Poptarts.

“What’s a unhealthy brat?” Miki asked in her perfectly sweet voice.

“It’s someone who eats food that isn’t good for them a lot and then judges other people for eating Domino’s pizza for a week during finals.”

“Ohhh,” she nodded wisely, watching Theo intently as he poured her some orange juice.

“You literally had Domino’s every single day,” Liam reminded him, “I don’t think you can talk.”

“So did you!” Theo argued.

“Well, yeah, but you don’t just say no to Domino’s!”

“Unhealthy brat,” Theo said, a smile escaping without his consent.

“ _Anyways_ ,” Liam ignored him, “We have to go to my mom’s when I’m done work because she needs to help sort out the guest list. Also, Mason and Corey are coming over later. Do you remember Mason and Corey, Miki?” she shook her head, “They’re nice,” Liam said easily, “You’ll like them.”

“Okay,” Miki said in a shy voice. Liam beamed radiantly.

It almost distracted Theo from the sudden lump in his throat at the idea of telling _more_ people about his and Liam’s engagement. There was no possible way for this to end well, but Theo felt like he was strapped to the back of a tandem bicycle, speeding down a nearly vertical incline with nothing to do but let his feet continue to pedal as if he had a choice. A warm hand suddenly covered his own and he met Liam’s concerned gaze.

“Is that okay?” he asked, as if Theo’s brain could even function that well with Liam’s thumb sweeping gently over the back of his hand. He had been a little concerned that Liam wouldn’t want to touch him again after this morning, but then, Liam was constantly surprising him.

He swallowed again, a little easier this time, and nodded, turning his hand over in Liam’s so that he could squeeze it gently in acknowledgement.

“I’ll take a shower in a minute and then I’ll drive you to work,” Theo said, watching as Liam’s fingers moved to play with the tips of his own, even as he spooned cereal into his mouth.

“Are you sure?’ he asked skeptically around a mouthful of Lucky Charms. “I can walk.”

“I want to,” Theo told him easily, “I would give you the truck again, but I don’t know if we can fit Miki’s bed into the Range Rover or the minivan. And I’m not even going to start with that god forsaken Jeep.”

Liam looked at Theo with an unbelievably fond expression that made him feel hot all over and bring his attention back to his breakfast and cleaning up after Miki, just for something to do.

“Okay,” Liam said finally, “But you better shower soon. I have to leave in fifteen minutes.”

 

They strapped Miki into the spare carseat that Scott and Malia had not only leant them but also kindly strapped into the car for them, which had looked way too complicated for anyone to be able to figure out. The ride mostly consisted of Liam turning around in his seat to entertain a giggling Miki and Theo smiling at them in the rearview mirror as often as he could without running off the road.

All too soon, Theo was pulling up in front of the Oak Creek Memorial sight and Liam was unbuckling his seatbelt, reaching back to give Miki a high-five and then smiling at Theo.

“Bye,” he said quietly.

“Bye,” Theo smiled back as their noses brushed, unsure of how exactly they had gotten so close.

Their lips brushed in a casual kiss and then pressed back in for another. And then one more, slightly more lingering this time, before Liam was pulling away, still smiling, calling goodbye over his shoulder as he climbed out of his car. Theo smiled too long after him, nearly forgetting to wave back when Liam and one of his coworkers waved at them. He was so stupidly in love.

He shook his head and pulled away, heading for the store. If Theo had actually known anyone besides the pack, he might have felt more self-conscious about walking into Target with a little girl holding his hand. But it was the middle of the day, and even if he would have recognized anyone from high school, there were hardly any people there.

He had texted Scott for a list of things that he would probably need and was somehow even more confused than he had been before.

“Um…” he asked awkwardly, pausing next to the baby aisle, “Miki, do you use the big people potty?” He felt like an idiot. He had never expected to say something like “big people potty” ever. And especially not at the age of twenty-four.

“ _Yes, Theo,_ ” Miki rolled her eyes, “I’m three years old!”

“Oh,” he said, feeling even dumber before, “Okay. So you don’t need diapers, right?”

“No!” she giggled, “Only underwear!”

Theo blew out a sigh and turned the cart towards the girls’ department. “Of course,” he muttered, “How stupid of me.”

He somehow managed to get some clothes that at least _looked_ like they would fit Miki better than Allie’s old clothes (and he had to think that at least he must be better at this than Liam, who sized engagement rings on his pinky). They also picked up some snacks like applesauce and goldfish and Kraft Mac and Cheese, which he was sure Liam would end up eating too because his fake fiancé had the palette of a toddler. The toy aisle took a long time, but they finally picked up some coloring books and dolls (which Theo was not looking forwards to playing with) and a painting set actually made for kids her age.

“I guess we should decorate your room too,” Theo said thoughtfully as they turned into the home goods aisle. “Do you want to pick out some stuff?”

Miki looked up at him with big eyes and nodded, suddenly more shy than the strangely sassy comments she had been giving him since they had walked in.

Theo noted the expression for later. There were things that Miki sometimes said or did that made him wonder what exactly had happened to her and to her family, but he had no idea what to do about it. Not for the first time, he wished Liam were there.

Miki brightened up as they found basically the cutest lamps, sheets, and pillows ever, all of them decorated with smiling animals. It wasn’t until after the bed was strapped into the back of his truck, overloaded cart being slowly unpacked at the checkout counter, that Theo realized he was royally fucked. He had always gotten by okay on money made off of minimum wage jobs worked through college. Money that only didn’t have to go straight into tuition because of his scholarship. He didn’t have one of those now and he had more than just himself to take care of. Even if he asked Liam for help, Liam didn’t make much at his internship. Theo needed a job.

He handed over his credit card uncomfortably, staring at the ominous number glowing at him from the register. The cashier smiled and handed him his card back, telling him to have a nice day.

His brain was still full as they drove back to the house, Miki playing quietly with one of her new dolls in the back seat.

“Theo?” she asked in a small voice. “You don’t smell good.”

“Sorry,” he sighed, pushing his hair back out of his eyes. “Is it okay if we make one more stop?”

She nodded silently, and Theo switched his turn signal, taking the next road back into town.

He had always sworn that he would never do this. It wasn’t like the money was going anywhere, he knew, and the centuries it had been sitting in a savings account had only earned it higher and higher interest. It would solve all of his problems. If he could bring himself to actually go through with this. He parked in front of an old bank, tall and made of white stone.

He must have been sitting there for a long time, because he heard Miki’s seatbelt detach (he’d had a feeling she was too smart for her own good), and suddenly she was climbing over the consul and into his lap, headbutting him in the face in some strange attempt at nuzzling.

He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m okay, Miki,” he told her.

“Call Liam,” she said quietly.

He looked down at her. “What? Why?”

“He makes you smell happy,” she pouted, “You don’t smell happy.”

He stared at her a little while longer, and then pulled out his phone.

“Theo?” Liam sounded worried.

“It’s not an emergency,” Theo said quickly, “I just – “

“Theo, I’m at work. It’s only been like three hours,” Liam told him.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Theo replied, “I don’t know why I thought – it’s fine. We can talk later.”

“I’m on my lunch break,” Liam’s voice said, washing calmingly over Theo, “What is it?”

“It’s nothing – “

“Theo.”

He sighed. “I got stuff for Miki’s room…it’s…it was…”

“Expensive?” Liam asked.

“Yeah.”

“I should’ve given you my pack card. You can ask Scott to set you up with one next time you see him. For emergencies only, obviously.”

“No, I can – there’s a pack card?” Theo snorted, momentarily diverted, “You really can’t yell at me for making fun of you guys for being card carrying Club McCall members anymore.”

“Shut up, Handsome. You’re part of Club McCall too,” Liam teased. Theo pretended his heart hadn’t just flipped in his chest. “Where are you right now, by the way?”

Miki climbed off of Theo again in search of her doll, apparently satisfied with his smell now.

“Nowhere,” he tried.

“Theo,” Liam said, sounding angry.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I always worry about you,” Liam shot back, “Especially when you’re doing stupid shit. I always know. I can feel it in my bones.”

Theo paused. “You worry about me?” he asked.

“I – uh…yeah? I guess.”

Theo smiled again. “Liam, I’m fine. I’m going home now.” He started the truck for emphasis, watching in amazement as Miki climbed back into her car seat and only took a few minutes to buckle her own seatbelt.

“Okay, good. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Yeah,” Theo agreed, drinking in Liam’s voice for the last few minutes. God, he loved that voice.

“Okay. I have to go. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Theo said, automatically, and hung up to put the car into reverse. He nearly crashed into the car pulling out behind him when he realized what had just happened. He and Liam had said “I love you” to each other. And it wasn’t even the first time. He wondered if there had been anyone on Liam’s end that he had been trying to convince or if it was just becoming a habit. Either way, he pulled out of the parking lot, starting back home, all thoughts of the Dread Doctors’ money gone from his mind.

 

Miki was obviously tired from running errands and decorating her room by the time they got to the Geyers’ house. He could see Liam and David in the living room talking through the front window and his heart found some strange mix of contentment and excitement.

He parked in the driveway, going around to the backseat to unload a half-asleep Miki from her car seat, slamming the car door closed with his hip as he carried her up to the front door.

Liam was already there, greeting Theo with a kiss and taking Miki from him, whispering something to her that made her eyes brighten, and then setting her down to run towards the kitchen.

Theo shot him a questioning look.

“Dad said he’d make cookies with her while we do the guest list with Mom,” Liam explained.

Theo stared at him, feeling like somehow he was seeing the undeniable beauty in him for the first time, as though he didn’t see it every single day.

“What?” Liam challenged.

“Nothing,” he smirked, “How was your day?”

“Pretty awesome. I mean, it’s a lot of paperwork right now, but even the paperwork’s awesome, so,” he shrugged.

“That’s good.” Theo followed him into the living room, where Jenna was sitting on the couch in front of the coffee table, which was scattered with books and papers, “Hi Jenna.”

“Hello, Theo!” She jumped up to kiss his cheek and then gestured for them to sit down. “Liam and I were just trying to figure out if we could get away with ‘forgetting’ to invite his father.” Theo’s eyebrows raised, but Jenna seemed far more amused than upset. “Although I guess we probably can’t.”

“If you don’t want to see him, Mom – “ Liam started.

“Oh, _I_ don’t care!” she said brightly, “I have a perfectly delicious piece of arm candy, so it would just be a fun opportunity to make him jealous! Really, it’s up to you boys.”

Theo looked at Liam, who shrugged.

“Is there anyone you want to invite, Theo?” Jenna asked.

He thought about it. “Cecily,” he decided, “We were art majors together.”

Jenna blinked at him. “Anyone else?” she asked, glancing at Liam, “Is there any family – “

“No,” he said quickly, “No, just Cecily. And the pack.”

“Okay,” she said. He could see he gears turning in her head, but she didn’t press it any farther, “Alright. Our family is fairly big, so I think we should try to cut it off somewhere. I can’t imagine a giant wedding is really your style…”

In the end, there were less than one hundred guests to invite, which Theo couldn’t help but be relieved about. The wedding planner was brought forwards again, open to a page full of possible venues – everything from converted barns to country clubs. Theo kind of hated all of them.

“You two keep looking,” Jenna instructed, “I’m going to go see how Miki and David are doing.” The house smelled like sugar cookies, but besides a giggle or two, it had been strangely quiet.

Theo looked at Liam, who was frowning at the book. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I…kind of have an idea. I don’t know if you’ll like it though,” he blinked at Theo with big blue eyes, and Theo had a feeling he would be agreeing with whatever Liam wanted.

“Try me,” he said dryly.

 “Um…okay, I know you’re an atheist and everything, so if you don’t want to have it in a church, we don’t have to. I get it. But…there’s kind of this really old church in the city that I always thought would be…you know, a nice place to get married…” Liam scratched the back of his head. “But we don’t have to. At all. If you don’t want to. I would totally get – “

“Liam,” Theo cut in, feeling much more uncertain about the idea than he had thought he would, “I went to hell. You really want me inside a church?”

“Well…no. Not if it makes you uncomfortable,” Liam said.

Theo sighed. “It’s fine. It probably won’t even happen, so just do it.” He said.

“No,” Liam said, “Forget it, it was a bad idea.”

“Liam,” Theo growled in frustration, “Just book the damn church.”

“No!” Liam argued hotly, “I don’t want to get married there anymore. I changed my mind.”

“You’re such a fucking idiot,” Theo complained, pulling out his phone, “What’s it called? I’ll book it.”

“No!” Liam flung himself over Theo, trying to get the phone back, “I said I don’t want it! Stop being such an asshole!”

“Stop being such a brat!” Theo retorted, “Maybe _I_ want to have it there now!”

“No, you don’t!” Liam grunted, still wrestling Theo for the phone, “Theo, don’t call them! I have a different idea, can you just – “ he was practically in Theo’s lap, reaching for the phone. One knee slipped, and he nearly lost balance, but Theo grabbed the back of his shirt and held him close, even as it meant sacrificing his phone to him.

Liam looked at him, a little breathless, cheeks a little pink, and far closer than Theo had been expecting. His blue eyes dropped down Theo’s face and then flitted back up to his eyes. “I think…” he said, and then didn’t seem to have any intention of continuing.

Theo was trying too hard not to look at Liam’s mouth to be able to think much of it. “What?’ he asked, staring firmly into those eyes. Those eyes that did him in, that were the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen. That had been the first things he had seen when he had come back from hell and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“What?” Liam asked, still a little breathless, even though his heartrate had calmed down some.

“You…you said you think…what do you think?” Theo tried. Liam still wasn’t moving away from him. Then again, Theo wasn’t moving away either, but Liam was also sitting practically on top of him.

“I…um…we can have it outside,” Liam licked his lips, Theo’s eyes following the motion helplessly. “Not in the church.

“Oh,” Theo said without processing, and then did process it, “In the fall?”

Liam nodded, their noses brushing just a little as he did so. “It could be nice,” he said, “With the leaves.”

“Mmm,” Theo agreed, “Not too hot. Not too cold.”

“Perfect,” Liam breathed, “Do you want to?”

“Yes,” Theo exhaled into his lips, and they were kissing. Jenna and David were in the other room, but it was no excuse. There were no eyes on them, and there was no pretense of their quick press of lips that had become a habit. It was raw and unbridled, tongues chasing tongues, fingers pulling each other closer, trying to find a way for their kiss to deepen further and further. _Passion_ , Theo thought vaguely, that was what kissing Liam – _really_ kissing Liam – felt like. Like every emotion could merge into one and it could just be _this_.

Liam scrambled to find a better position on Theo’s lap without letting their lips come apart, one leg swinging over to the other side of Theo’s thigh, kneeling on the couch but sitting in Theo’s lap, his hands bracing himself on Theo’s shoulders as Theo’s slipped under Liam’s shirt, sliding up his back, fingertips ghosting over the smooth skin there.

It was so much and not enough. Theo was drowning in the kiss and in Liam and yet chasing hungrily for more, like a starving man. And all he could do was continue to kiss Liam.

There was a sound far away in the distance, but it didn’t seem important and Theo didn’t think he could stop. Liam’s fingers tightened on Theo’s shoulders, but all he did was kiss Theo more fiercely.

The sound came again, this time a distinct clearing of a throat, and Liam abruptly pulled away. “Mom,” he squeaked, climbing off of Theo, who sunk a little deeper into the couch, cheeks burning. _What had just happened?_

“As much as I love you boys and seeing that you’re happy,” Jenna’s dry voice came from the doorway to the kitchen, “The little girl that you’re taking care of is in the other room and I can’t bring her back in while you’re getting it on on my couch.”

Theo blushed harder as they both muttered quiet sorry’s

“Um…” Theo tried, “Did they make all of the cookies?”

“And just about the biggest mess I’ve ever had in that kitchen. David said something about a flour battle,” Jenna shook her head, “But I think we were going to have pizza for dinner anyways. Any particular kind you want?”

“Any kind is fine!” Liam squeaked, still blushing furiously.

“Vegetable, if that’s alright,” Theo clarified.

Jenna laughed and shook her head. “Make yourselves decent and then come in to help clean up,” she said, turning back towards the kitchen.

“Wait! Mom!” Liam jumped up, “We decided on a venue. And a time of year.”

Jenna’s expression turned from amusement to pure joy. “Where?” She asked excitedly, “When?”

Liam smiled sheepishly, his hand finding Theo’s across the back of the sofa. “Outside at the old church. In October, maybe?”

Jenna gasped. “Oh, boys, that will be beautiful! And so soon! Let me order pizza and then we’ll talk more about it, okay?” she said, disappearing into the kitchen, already calling out the news to David.

Theo looked at Liam. “What was that?” he asked quietly.

Liam blushed. “What?”

“You know what.”

Liam’s eyes met his for a second and then flickered away.

“Liam,” Theo squeezed his hand, “I’m not judging you. I just want to know.”

“I wanted to,” Liam said hotly, “You could have pulled away.”

_Not a chance,_ Theo thought. “Is there…a reason?”

“Do I have to have a reason?” Liam snapped, snatching his hand back.

“I guess not,” Theo replied, feeling his expression go cold. “You just get to do whatever you want, don’t you? There are no such things as consequences for Liam Dunbar.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Liam argued.

“It means you’re a fucking brat,” Theo hissed.

He expected Liam to argue again, but instead he looked away, clearly still fuming, the smell of burning ashes bitter in Theo’s nose. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said stiffly.

“Maybe because you never actually try to explain anything,” Theo bit out, feeling a bit desperate. Liam gave him one hell of an emotional whiplash sometimes.

“Can’t you just let it go for a little while?” Liam retorted, “Maybe I don’t understand either!” His expression turned instantly to something like mortified shock, and he got up and went into the kitchen, shirt still wrinkled, hair still messy, lips still kiss-bitten.

Theo wanted to scream or maybe punch something. He knew that if he went into the kitchen, Liam would act like nothing had happened and everything was fine. Liam’s chaotic mess of a love life had been annoying before when Theo had just been on the sidelines, wishing with all his heart that he could be right in the middle of it. But, somehow, he had found himself exactly where he had wanted to be – in the middle of it all – and none of it made any more sense than it had from the outside. He had kissed Liam. He had done that… _thing_ with him just that morning. And he still had no idea where they stood. They were friends, that much he was sure of, but now he had no idea if Liam had a really bizarre idea of friendship or if he was just an idiot. Either way, Theo was fucked.

He ran a hand through his hair. He straightened out his shirt. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. And we followed Liam into the kitchen, ready to pretend once more.


	15. The Best Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I'll reply to all of the comments eventually! :D
> 
> Enjoy!

Miki was asleep by the time they pulled into the driveway. The silence between Liam and Theo was still a little chilly as they got out of the car, Liam extracting Miki carefully from her car seat and carrying her up the steps behind Theo.

Theo leaned against the doorframe watching Liam gently place Miki into her new bed. She sniffled a little and rolled around, but didn’t wake up. Liam looked around the room and then found her stuffed turtle, tucking it into her arm and adjusting the covers before straightening up and crossing the room back towards Theo.

“Liam – “

“It’s fine,” Liam said.

“It’s not, but we don’t have to talk about it now,” Theo told him.

Liam stared at him like he wasn’t sure what to think of that. Theo understood. Hayden was confrontational where Theo was crafty. He pushed Liam if he had to, but there were ways of getting Liam to talk that weren’t just yelling at him until he yelled back. Not that Theo was comparing himself to Hayden where Liam was concerned.

“Thank you,” Liam said quietly, crowding into Theo’s space as Theo’s arms automatically pulled him into a hug.

They didn’t break apart until the sound of the doorbell downstairs made them jump.

“Our best men,” Liam grimaced, rubbing the back of his head, “I’ve kind of been avoiding them.”

“Me too,” Theo agreed. “Wait, you asked Mason to be your best man?”

“Yeah, dude,” Liam rolled his eyes as they started down the stairs, “Who else was I going to ask? You asked Corey, right?”

“Not…yet,” Theo muttered. To be honest, he knew that they were actually planning the wedding and everything, but asking Corey to be his best man seemed like a step too far. Like doing it would be admitting that the entire thing was actually happening.

“Well, do it tonight,” Liam told him, “I’ll give you guys a minute.” He turned to him in front of the door. “Unless you were going to ask someone else.”

“No,” Theo said, realizing that it was true, “No, I’m asking Corey.”

Liam grinned beautifully at him and pulled open the front door.

The next few minutes were the usual flurry of easy, casual interactions that Theo had come to rely on from Mason and Corey. Even on his most antisocial days, the two of them were incredibly easy to be around. Almost as easy as Liam, but not quite.

They brought the partially spiked case of beer into the living room, setting it on the coffee table, and throwing themselves onto the couch together as everyone teased Corey at how badly he sucked at racing video games. There was an awkward moment that Theo wasn’t sure if they picked up on when he and Liam paused, realizing that there was nowhere to sit together like they usually did. It passed quickly and Liam sat on Mason’s other side as Theo took the old armchair.

“What’s this I hear about your wedding being in four months, by the way?” Corey asked, cracking open a bottle of beer.

“What?” Liam asked, “How do you already know?”

“Your mom told Scott, who asked me if it was true. Seriously, dude? Not cool,” Mason said, shaking his head.

“Also,” Corey added, “I thought the whole point was to _not_ actually get married.” He was looking meaningfully at Theo, but Theo’s eyes moved to Liam. With everything that had happened in the past few hours, he somehow hadn’t made the connection that they had all but set a date for the wedding and Liam had yet to make a single objection.

Liam shrugged. “Would _actually_ getting married even be all that bad, though?” he asked casually. Theo nearly spat out his beer and ended up choking fairly obviously.

“That’s it,” Corey said, after a shared look with Mason, “Theo, can I talk to you outside?”

Theo nodded, still coughing a little and followed him through the kitchen into the mudroom and out onto the back porch, the light turning on as they closed the door.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Corey demanded.

“He never told me he was thinking about actually getting married!” Theo said defensively.

“Seriously?” Corey asked, clearly frustrated, “Theo, you can’t marry him!”

“Why not?” Theo pressed, “If he wants to – “

“Liam clearly doesn’t know _what_ he wants! And I don’t understand how you _still_ haven’t talked about  when you’re going to come clean!”

“We did,” Theo assured him, “Liam just said he needed more time, and I – “

“You can’t give Liam everything he wants just because he wants it!”

“Can I give it to him because I want to?” Theo sneered.

Corey studied him closely. “You mean it? You’re not just doing everything for Liam’s sake anymore?”

“He makes me happy,” Theo explained, “I just want to make him happy back.”

Corey shook his head, but he was smiling slightly. “This isn’t just some self-deprecating thing anymore, is it? I think you’re actually living your life now.”

“Maybe,” Theo admitted.

“It’s about time. Fuck, maybe Liam _is_ good for you.”

“So you’ll be my best man?” Theo grinned.

“I’m not taking any of the blame when this all goes to shit, but yes. I’ll be your best man. Obviously,” Corey grinned back, sitting on the top step, leading into the back yard.

“I’ll be fine,” Theo assured him, sitting next to him, crossing his arms over his knees.

“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” Corey wondered, glancing over his shoulder.

“Tough to say,” Theo said dryly, “Maybe how we almost accidentally had sex this morning. Maybe how we made out for real when nobody was even there. Maybe how we’re now taking care of a three year old werewolf.”

Corey looked at him in horror. “Are you serious?”

“Yes?”

“All of them?”

“Yeah,” Theo laughed.

“How are you not freaking the fuck out?”

Theo shrugged. “We sort of not really talked about it, but things are still pretty normal between us, so it’s fine.”

“I hate you so much sometimes,” Corey shook his head, “Theo, that is _not_ fine!”

“We’re going to talk about it eventually,” Theo insisted, “I think he just has a lot going on.”

“Was he into it least?”

Theo’s smile gave it away.

“Oh my god, he was! Does he like you?”

“No!” Theo said quickly, “I mean, I don’t know. He kind of freaked out this morning but he seemed okay with making out with me, except for when his mom walked in on us.”

Corey actually laughed. “You’re a mess, Raeken,” he said, standing up, “Let’s go back in and actually play video games like we were supposed to.”

The room was suspiciously quiet when they came in, Liam looking slightly annoyed, Mason exasperated. Corey took his seat next to Mason, and Theo went back to his chair, attention mostly on Liam as he tried to figure out what was bothering him.

“Mario Kart?” Corey suggested finally, the one racing game that he didn’t fail so epically at – Liam wouldn’t play violent games anymore. He never talked about it, but he never played them either.

“Only if you feel like getting your ass kicked,” Liam said, getting up from the couch, only to situate himself at Theo’s feet, his back warm against Theo’s shins.

Theo nudged his back, and Liam dropped his head back onto Theo’s knees, smiling up at him. Theo smiled back, forgetting his confusion. He wasn’t sure how he managed to think about anything at all when Liam smiled at him like that.

Distractedly, he accepted a controller from Mason, and when he looked back, Liam was watching him expectantly, lips puckering as soon as their eyes met again. Theo smiled and bent over him to place a gentle kiss on his lips before sitting up to look at the screen.

“Okay, what the fuck was that?” Mason asked, bewildered.

“What was what?” Liam replied innocently.

“You just kissed. For no reason,” Mason frowned between them.

“So?”

“So you have nothing to prove! It’s just me and Corey!”

“Well maybe I like kissing Theo!” Liam said defensively.

Theo’s mind spurred into action immediately, coming up with dozens of excuses that could send him out of the room in seconds.

“Liam, I swear to god.” Mason looked a mixture of annoyed, bewildered, and amused.

 “Robert Downey Junior kisses guys all the time and he’s supposedly straight,” Liam pointed out.

 “Yeah, but you guys kiss more than me and Corey and we’re _actually_ dating!” Mason cried.

Liam rolled his eyes.

“Maybe we should just play Mario Kart,” Corey suggested nervously.

Things were a little tense and awkward for the rest of the night, but between Corey and Theo, they were able to force everyone to have a good time anyways. By the time Mason and Corey were leaving, most of the tension was gone, but Theo was pretty sure that Liam and Mason still weren’t totally on the same page.

“We’re fine,” Liam told him when he asked, and then closed the bathroom door in his face, which made Theo feel like they probably weren’t.

“You aren’t fighting with Mason because of the fake engagement thing, are you?” Theo asked Liam from their bed as he watched him pull his shirt over his head. His eyes traveled down the thick thatch of chest hair to the new line of hair that started at his belly button and led into the waistband of his athletic shorts before he realized what he was doing. His eyes snapped back up to Liam’s face, beautiful features contorted into a frown.

“Not exactly,” he said. He looked at Theo and something in his expression changed. “Okay, maybe it has to do with it a little bit.”

Theo sighed and shifted so that he was sitting with his back against the headboard. “Does it have to do with me?” he asked. He knew that Mason had been wary of him for a long time. It had started to get a little better before he had gone away to school with Liam. They were something like friends now, but he could tell that Mason still mistrusted him a little.

Liam didn’t answer, but crossed to his side of the bed, slipped under the covers, and cuddled up next to Theo. “Mason has nothing against you,” he assured him.

Theo’s eyes scanned his face, but Liam was looking at him with that open, earnest expression that made him feel like he was falling with no destination. “I don’t want your friendship with Mason to suffer because of this,” he told him, and Liam’s eyes moved downwards, long lashes obscuring those clear, blue eyes. “I’ll tell Scott,” he decided suddenly, “I’ll tell him it was my idea and we didn’t mean for it to get this far. I’ll make it seem like I was – “

“Don’t you dare!” Liam’s eyes flashed up to meet his again, fire dancing behind them, even as he lay curled on his side, one hand splayed over Theo’s heart. “Don’t you dare tell Scott and _don’t_ make yourself out to be the bad guy _ever_ again. Maybe it was your idea, but I’m just as much in this as you are and if you think you can try to use me to get the pack to hate you again because you’re afraid of commitment, then you have another thing coming because every single one of them loves the shit out of you, Theo Raeken.”

Theo stared at him. “They – “

“Every. Single. One of them.” Liam insisted sternly. “Listen, I have things to figure out and Mason’s a little annoyed about it, but he’ll get over it.” He bit his lip, as though he wasn’t sure if he should continue. Theo realized that he was holding his breath. Liam must have realized too because his fingers curled on Theo’s chest before splaying out again. Theo exhaled and brought his hand to rest over Liam’s, the silver of his ring glinting in the moonlight.

Liam’s hand turned over in his, fingers finding the ring that they had put there, sliding over the metal, twisting it gently around, just like Theo did when he was nervous or bored. “I kind of wouldn’t mind actually marrying you,” he admitted quietly.

Theo tipped his head back, looking towards the ceiling, even as he felt Liam’s eyes following him in anticipation. It was too much. Of course, he wanted to marry Liam, but he didn’t know if he could handle this being some strange whim of Liam’s – marry Theo until he found somebody better. Until he could get Hayden back. He wasn’t sure if he could handle the emotional fallout. Liam’s hand started to draw back, but Theo’s hand caught it, lacing their fingers together as he looked down to meet Liam’s eyes.

“What about Hayden?” he asked after a long moment.

Liam opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking confused. “I…I don’t think I love her anymore,” he confessed, sounding surprised, “I thought I would always love her, but…I don’t know…”

Theo fought down the urge to grin like a madman. “Liam, if we get married, you can’t actually date anyone else. You know that, right? The pack will know. Like immediately. They’re really all up in each other’s business.”

“I…I know,” Liam said, uncertainly, “I just – if nothing else mattered, would you?”

“Marry you?”

Liam nodded.

Theo slid down until he way lying next to Liam, clutching their hands to his heart. “Yeah,” he sighed. “If there was no one on earth except for you and me.”

Liam snorted softly. “That may be some round about way to say that you would only marry me if I was the last person on earth, but it sounded really romantic.”

Theo smiled, rolling totally onto his side so that there was hardly any space between them. He brushed his nose against Liam’s once, twice. Their mouths were so close. They hadn’t really talked about what had happened at the Geyers’ house, but the air felt charged in the same way now. Liam’s eyelashes swept closed. Theo nuzzled closer, his eyes dropping to Liam’s lips.

The door creaked open and a small figure stood in the shadows. “Theo?” Miki’s tiny voice asked.

“Miki? What’s wrong?” Theo asked, detaching from Liam just enough to sit up, feeling Liam sitting up right next to him. He could smell the salty tears and bitter fear from across the room. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yeah,” her voice wavered, and Theo got out of bed, turning off the light as he crossed to the doorway, scooping her up in his arms.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“I want to sleep here,” she mumbled, sticking her face into the crook of Theo’s neck.

He looked over at Liam, who shrugged and got out of bed to pull on a shirt. Theo gave him a small, thankful smile, and placed Miki on the bed, catching the shirt that Liam threw him and pulling it over his head. Miki cuddled up with her stuffed turtle, snuggling in as Liam and Theo crawled in on either side of her.

Within five minutes, she was asleep.

“Seriously?” Liam whispered.

Theo reached across the tiny sleeping girl and her giant stuffed turtle between them, brushing Liam’s hair back out of his face. “You’ve never woken up wishing that you didn’t have to be alone?” he asked. In so many ways, Liam was still so pure and innocent, like the girl next to him. Theo was thankful every day that he had never succeeded in getting Liam to kill Scott. That was a loss of innocence that could ruin you – that was almost impossible to recover from. Theo was living proof of that.

“Of course, I have,” Liam told him with a tiny frown.

“Then you understand,” Theo said, drawing his hand back. Liam caught it just long enough to press a kiss to his palm and them released it again.

They smiled at each other and Theo reached over to turn out the light.

 

Saturdays, Theo decided, were the best days ever. He woke up to Miki poking him in the side with sharp little fingers. He groaned.

“Can I watch cartoons?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he grunted, as she crawled over him, a knee to his stomach. He rolled into the space that she had abandoned, pulling Liam into his arms, aware that just weeks ago he had been worried about cuddling with Liam making it too hard for him to get out unscathed. There was no way he was getting out unscathed now, he realized. He had thought he couldn’t fall any more in love with Liam. He had told Mason that. But he had. And he still was.

He thought he had only been asleep for another five minutes, but the next time Miki poked him awake, Liam’s phone told him it had been almost an hour.

“Can we have waffles?” she asked.

“Uh…” Theo tried to think if they had any ingredients for waffles, but Miki moved around to the other side of the bed, shook Liam awake, and asked him the same thing.

“Course,” Liam said, voice still thick with sleep.

Miki skipped to the doorway, and Liam looked back over his shoulder at Theo. “Morning,” he muttered, eyes already travelling to Theo’s lips.

“Morning,” Theo said into their kiss. It was slightly longer than the tiny pecks he had gotten used to exchanging with Liam, and he went back in for another and then one more, each kiss feeling more lingering, until Miki called to them to hurry up, and Liam finally pulled away.

“You have the first shower,” he told Theo magnanimously.

“Do you even know how to make waffles?” Theo shot back.

“No idea!” he said cheerfully.

Theo snorted in laughter at the blip in Liam’s heart and rolled onto his side of the bed, taking in his scent. Theo was happy, he realized. He may not know what was going on in Liam’s head. He may not have a good reason for why Liam was behaving this way, but he had given in. He trusted Liam implicitly, and as far as he knew, Liam hadn’t lied to him about anything except knowing how to make waffles. Liam had a reason for kissing Theo, for cuddling him and comforting him, and making him fall even more in love with him every second they were together and miss him every second they were apart.

The phone vibrated loudly and Theo picked it up, noticing Hayden’s name flashing across the screen, but making himself answer it anyways.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Theo?” she asked suspiciously.

“Uh…yeah?”

“Why are you answering Liam’s phone?”

He looked at the phone in his hands. Huh. “He’s downstairs making breakfast,” he replied easily.

“Whatever. What’s this about you two getting married in October?” she said, sounding dismayed. “I thought this was all supposed to be fake.”

“Yeah, well…” Theo hesitated for only a split second before saying, “It’s not.”

“What do you mean, it’s not?” she demanded, “You’re not actually getting married.”

“I think we are,” he admitted.

“But why? Please tell me he’s not still trying to get back together with me. I don’t want him to use you that way,” she said, voice strained.

“No, he said…he said he doesn’t love you anymore. Not like that.”

“Oh,” she said after a minute, evidently shocked. “Does he love you?”

‘I don’t know,” Theo admitted, “I don’t know if he knows.”

“I – I have to go,” she said suddenly, “I hope it works out.”

“Wait, what did you – “ he looked at the phone screen. The call had ended. Theo felt a little bad. This couldn’t be easy for Hayden either.

His mind whirred the entire time it took to shower and get dressed, but by the time he walked downstairs to see Liam putting waffles onto a plate, all of the stress had cleared.

“I’m impressed,” Theo smirked at him, “Are they any good, Miki?”

“Yeah!” she bounced up and down in her seat, alternating between eating waffles and coloring a picture of dolphins.

“Shut up,” Liam told him, face turning a little pink even as he smiled, “I put wolfsbane in yours.”

“Aw, Buttercup, are you making me edibles?” Theo slid inn behind Liam and kissed his cheek, arms going around his waist. This level of cuddling was new territory, but he was starting to get the feeling that Liam wouldn’t mind too much.

“No, I’m poisoning you,” Liam turned in his arms to kiss him once and then broke away, “Did you tell Hayden we’re getting married?” he asked as he put the last of the waffles on the table and unplugged the waffle iron.

“Shouldn’t I have?” Theo asked, looking up from pouring himself a glass of milk.

“No, you can. I just didn’t know you had made up your mind,” Liam told him, waiting as Theo crossed back over to him and then reeling him in by his belt loops. Theo set his glass on the table and steadied himself with both hands on Liam’s hips. “Did you?”

“I think so,” he decided. He had hit a level of _fuck-it_ from which there was no return.

The look in Liam’s eyes was just as passionate as the kiss that they had shared at his parents’ house. And if Miki hadn’t been there – holy shit, Theo was a terrible guardian.

“I think this means we’re doing a wedding cake tasting for lunch,” Liam leaned around Theo to tell her, “How does that sound, Miki?”

“Good!” she exclaimed, mouth full of syrupy waffles.

“Oh my god,” Theo laughed, “I’m not even the worst guardian! That’s you!”

Liam shrugged, unconcerned, and let him go so that they could settle in to breakfast.

 

Lydia, Stiles, and Liam’s parents went with them to the small fancy cake shop in town. The McCalls were having Family Day, but Lydia had apparently been hard at work. She had somehow squeezed them into an appointment at the cake shop that hadn’t existed before, and as they sat at their table a few minutes early, waiting, she spread out an array of invitations in front of them.

“These are the best invitations I’ve found, given your chosen venue and the time of year,” she explained briskly, “Let me know if you hate them all and I’ll have something custom made.”

Theo and Liam exchanged a glance and then looked over the thick cards: there were invitations with spiraling script on cream colored cardstock, fake handwritten invitations on brown paper, matte black ones with gold writing, pictures of leaves and trees, sparkles like stars or fairy lights. Theo pulled one out of the bottom of the pile.

“What’s this?” he asked, flipping it over. The cardstock was heavy and pure white. On one side was a skeletal tree in black ink with spindly branches. On the other side, written unmistakably in Lydia’s neat, perfect handwriting, were nothing besides their names, a date, which Theo hoped was made up at this point, the address of the church, and the letters RSVP, large and commanding at the bottom of the page.

Lydia blushed and snatched it primly out of his hands before Liam could get a good look at it. “Nothing,” she informed him, “I like drawing trees.”

Stiles, who had been on his phone, looked over at her, eyes flickering to the card that she was now in the process of stowing in her purse.

“Woah, wait!” he said, “Lydia, that’s the Nemeton.”

“I’m aware, Stiles, thank you,” she said, shortly.

He slipped it out of her hand and it went more easily.

“What’s the Nemeton?” Jenna asked with interest.

“It’s the center of magic and supernatural in Beacon Hills,” Theo told her, “An old tree stump out in the preserve.”

“And last time Lydia was drawing it, a lot of people had died,” Stiles said, side-eyeing his girlfriend.

She rolled her eyes. “Correlation, Stiles. Not causation.”

“It was kind of causation,” he pointed out.

“Are you predicting that someone is going to die at Liam and Theo’s wedding?” Jenna asked.

“No,” Lydia said, sounding frustrated now, “I just thought it might – nevermind. This is why I wasn’t going to show anyone.”

“I like it,” Theo found himself saying.

Lydia smiled tightly at him like she didn’t believe him in the least.

“Can I see it?” Liam asked. Theo could feel his eyes on him. Lydia didn’t look thrilled, but she pulled the card out anyways and passed it across the table.

“You like this?” Liam asked, after inspecting it for a few minutes.

“Yeah,” Theo nodded, “It’s the best I’ve seen so far. There’s something…a little wild about it that I like.”

“I know what you mean,” Liam agreed, “I kind of love it too.”

“Lydia, do you think we could use this one?” he looked up to see Lydia’s eyes shining with pride.

“Really? I mean, of course!” she said, “I’ll take it to the shop to get them to copy it.”

Liam’s hand found Theo’s under the table. “Thank you,” they said together.

“Wait, that’s not the actual date, is it?” Liam asked, suddenly, looking around at the others at the table.

“Don’t look at me,” Stiles raised his hands, “I’m just here for the cake.”

“Sweetie, I asked if you and Theo would be free on the eleventh and twelfth,” Jenna told him, looking amused, “What did you think I was talking about?”

“Not booking my actual wedding date for me!” Liam exclaimed. Theo squeezed his hand.

“It’s okay,” Theo said easily, “It’s a weekend. Even if something comes up, I’m sure this will be more important. He allowed him self to look at Liam with all of the emotions that this boy made him feel. Stiles was making gagging noises in the background, Lydia was cooing, and Jenna was preoccupied with getting Miki situated with her plate and cup that the shop owner had brought out.

“Okay,” Liam said, more meekly than Theo had ever heard him speak, “I trust you.”

Theo snuck a kiss, wanting to taste Liam’s lips for longer, but not wanting to get kicked out of the shop for public indecency. Liam scooted a little closer to him so that their sides were lined up completely, the warms spreading up and down the side of Theo’s body. He released his hand and slipped that arm around his waist, pulling him close. Liam went easily.

The owner of the shop brought out five different cakes, which seemed excessive to Theo, who was pretty sure he and Liam could have just agreed on chocolate and called it a day, but both Liam and Miki had been so excited about the cake tasting that it seemed worth it, even if it meant having waffles for breakfast, cake for lunch, and god knows what for dinner.

“What kind of cake do you want to try first?” Theo asked Miki, who was practically vibrating with excitement next to him.

“Vanilla, cause it’s boring,” Miki decided. Theo had to cover his mouth to hide his smile as the shop owner raised her eyebrows.

“I also have a few samples that are from our autumn menu that I had prepared, since you indicated that it will be an autumn wedding,” she told Lydia, who smiled sweetly and thanked her. Liam was shaking with silent laughter next to him, and Jenna was grinning as she dished up vanilla cake for Miki and then for the rest of them.

“I hear you, Miki,” Stiles agreed, already shoving vanilla cake into his mouth, “nobody likes vanilla.”

He held out his fist and she bumped it shyly with her own tiny one. As much as Theo and Stiles didn’t always get along, he had to admit that Stiles was great with kids. And it warmed his heart to see Miki ever so slowly warming up to the rest of the pack.

“Cake?” Jenna offered Theo.

“No, thanks,” he grinned, “I’ll save room for the good stuff.”

“Seriously?” Liam pouted at him, “You’re not even going to try it?”

“Why?” Theo asked, “It’s vanilla and I know I like chocolate better.”

“Because it’s free cake,” Stiles told him.

“It’s really not bad, Handsome, have some of mine,” Liam waved a forkful of cake in his face. Theo took his hand in his own to steady it and ate the cake off of Liam’s fork, eyes meeting Liam’s as he pulled away. Never in his life had blue seemed like a warm color until he met Liam. There was something so soft there at times.

“It’s good,” he admitted, “I still like chocolate better though.”

Liam shook his head fondly.

They worked their way steadily through the different types of cake, generally unimpressed, although Theo was partial to the chocolate, Lydia weirdly liked the lemon poppy, and Jenna claimed her favorite was strawberry, although she acknowledged that lemon and strawberry might be out of place at a fall wedding.

“Buttercup,” Theo snorted at Liam when he looked over, “Hold still.” He swept his thumb by the corner of Liam’s mouth, wiping away the frosting there, and then sucking the finger into the mouth before he even realized what he was doing.

Liam’s eyes had followed the movement carefully and now rested hungrily on his lips. “Did you get it?” he asked, voice nearly cracking.

“Almost,” Theo smirked before diving back in, this time with his own lips, tongue running across Liam’s bottom one and then liking into his open mouth at Liam sighed contentedly. It was the most beautiful sound Theo had ever heard, the most beautiful feeling, as Liam’s body sank into his. His mouth tasted like sugar and chocolate and _Liam_ , and Theo was aware that it was probably too much for a cake shop with their young charge, Liam’s mother, and two of their friends, but he couldn’t help it. He was addicted.

Little hands tugged on the side of his shirt and he broke away from Liam again, feeling a flush decorating his cheeks. Miki didn’t look confused or disturbed in the least to have her guardians making out in front of her. Theo wondered vaguely if she was used to it already. Shit, he really was a terrible caretaker.

“More cake!” Miki said, pointing at the shop owner, who’s eyes were flickering between Stiles and Lydia and Liam and Theo. This time, when she spoke to the group, her attention was directed towards Liam and Theo instead of Lydia.

“This is our maple pecan cake,” she told them setting one plate on the table, “And this is our pumpkin spice cake. Has anything caught your eyes yet?”

“Uh…” Theo glanced at Liam. This lady had probably just watched them make out too. Fuck, he needed to learn to control himself.

“Chocolate,” Liam told her, “We liked the dark chocolate.”

She smiled. “We also do layers of different flavors, so if you want to combine any, that’s an option too.”

Liam thanked her, and she moved off towards a different table.

“You’re right, Lydia,” Stiles said, looking speculatively at Theo and Liam, “I don’t know why I ever thought they were faking it. Sorry guys, you were just super awkward in the beginning there.”

“No problem,” Theo said breezily. He knew that Stiles wasn’t totally convinced yet, but he wasn’t going to press his luck.

“ _I_ can’t believe that she assumed we were the ones getting married just because we’re straight,” Lydia sniffed.

“Mostly,” Stiles put in.

“Mostly,” she acknowledges

“It’s really too bad,” Jenna agreed, “Theo and Liam are clearly the cutest couple at this table.”

“Hey!” Stiles objected, while Lydia snorted in laughter.

Theo rolled his eyes and dished up maple pecan cake for Miki, who took one bite and wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“No?” Theo laughed.

She gave him a grave look, carefully put more cake onto her fork, and held it out to Theo, who ate it delicately, before trying desperately not to make a face. “Fuck, that’s sweet,” he said, pushing the rest of the tiny slice over to Liam, who tried some and grimaced.

“Theo!” Jenna scolded. She was clearly trying not to smile when he looked over. “Did you just swear in front of your child?”

“I – no?” he tried, wincing at how unconvincing he sounded.

“They say bad words a lot,” Miki said candidly, reaching for the next cake, which Jenna took the initiative to cut for her instead.

“Do they?” Jenna asked mischievously.

Miki glanced up at Theo, who shook his head slightly, adjusting his arm more comfortably around Liam.

“No,” Miki lied easily. Theo gave her a high-five and Jenna gave her cake, so she was completely satisfied.

“Okay, I know I said I was only here for the free cake, but I would pay a hell of a lot of money for this pumpkin cake.”

“Really?” Liam asked, helping himself to a slice. “ _Oh,_ Babe. This is the one,” he said through a mouthful of cake.

The bite that he fed him was exactly what Theo imagined fall would taste like if you could give it a flavor. It was cozy and spicy with just a bit of tanginess from cream cheese icing. Theo loved it almost as much as he loved the smile that it put on Liam’s face at that moment. Okay, maybe not quite that much.

“Yeah,” he agreed, chasing the tiny bit of flavor left over on Liam’s lips with a quick kiss.

“With chocolate,” Lydia said, “She said we could layer. Pumpkin and chocolate is a good combination.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed.

Lydia nodded, with a bright smile. “I’ll order this one for the twelfth,” she said, standing to find the shop owner.

Theo thought of Lydia’s drawing on the back of the invitations, of the light in Stiles’s eyes as he ate the pumpkin spice cake, of Jenna’s sparkling eyes when she looked at them together, of Liam warm on one side of him and Miki fidgety with energy on the other side of him. He had made the right decision, he realized. There was no other decision, really. He was going to marry Liam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's your pastry scene Dana lol


	16. The Job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long. Hopefully it was worth the wait!  
> The good news (or maybe the bad news, if you were hoping this fic would be ending any time soon), is that I keep adding new ideas and characters to it, so while I now have about the next ten chapters outlined, I still haven't come anywhere near the end...and it's almost 60k already.  
> Buckle in :D  
> Anyways, thank you for continuing to read this and support it, even though it sometimes takes a few weeks to update. <3 The Thiam fandom really is the best!
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS - Liam's POV next chapter ;)

Time passed quickly under the realization that this was no longer some sort of long joke where one of them would be left at the altar in the end, wondering how they had gotten there in the first place. Liam was still weirdly affectionate, and nobody seemed to think anything of it except for Mason and Corey, and Hayden, when they saw her. It wasn’t often. Theo got the feeling that she was trying to avoid the two of them in particular and maybe even the whole pack.

Miki was making herself more and more at home, painting alongside Theo, running errands with him in the afternoon, or staying with Bea, who she positively adored (probably because Bea loaded her up on sugar every time they were together) while Theo went out for job interviews, none of which had proven to be particularly successful. He should have known it would be that way in Beacon Hills. After all, everyone there knew his story.

He was working on the dark painting with the earth tones (which gave him an overwhelming sense of unsettledness, but he had yet to come up with a title for it) one day in late July when Liam came home. “I have good news and complicated news,” he announced, kissing Theo and ruffling Miki’s hair.

Theo cocked an eyebrow at him. “Which is…”

“So the complicated news is that I talked to my mom. She says that that between her and Scott and the Hales, they’ve lost track of any possible family for Miki. They’re going to reach out to other packs in the area to see if anyone’s looking to adopt. In the meantime,” Liam swung Miki off of her stool and tossed her, giggling, into the air, “You get to stay with us a little longer. That cool, Miki?”

“Yes!” she giggled, “Again!”

Liam complied with a huge grin.

“The ceiling’s a little low in here, Li,” Theo reminded him, watching with a small smile.

“Right,” Liam set Miki down, even as she tugged on his arms, demanding more. “Let’s play outside, Munchkin.”

“Okay!” she started pulling him towards the door, and Liam looked back over his shoulder at Theo.

“Coming?” he asked.

“In a minute,” he told him, already packing up most of his paints. His heart felt too full and happy most of the time to work on this painting anymore, anyways.

A bright blue color caught his eye as he closed up the rest of his paints. _Liam blue,_ he had always called it in his head. He pulled out the biggest brush he had and dipped it into the paint, drawing one large swipe right across the dark painting before deciding to leave it at that.

He washed his brushes and then hopped down the stairs two at a time, already hearing Miki’s gleeful shrieking and Liam’s beautiful laughter coming from outside the open front door. He grinned and leapt down the short steps into the yeard, calling hello to Bea, who was diligently weeding her garden.

She waved back, calling her sweet hello, and Theo swept straight over to Liam, who was watching closely as Miki climbed onto the lowest branch of the tree.

He wrapped his arms around Liam, hooking his chin over his shoulder and swaying him gently side to side. “Are you sure it’s okay for her to be doing that?” he asked Liam.

Liam turned his head, brushing Theo’s nose deliberately with his own as his hands came up to rest over Theo’s. “She’s a werewolf. Even if she falls and hurts herself, she’ll heal quickly. Probably even more quickly since she’s a kid.”

“Wow,” Theo deadpanned, “you’re such an amazing parent.”

Liam grinned at him, and Theo realized what he had said. “You know what I mean,” he blushed, “Guardian. Whatever.”

Liam leaned his head back a little to kiss Theo, relaxing completely into Theo’s chest.

“Liam, catch!” Miki demanded.

Theo released him just in time to watch in horror as Miki crouched on the branch that she was on and flung herself off of it into Liam’s quick arms.

“Jesus Christ,” Liam swore, “A little warning next time, Mik?”

“Sorry!” she giggled, already climbing back up the tree.

“She’s really bouncing back from the whole losing her parents thing pretty quickly, isn’t she?” Liam observed, “She used to be so shy.”

“It’s been almost two months,” Theo pointed out, “And she’s okay with us and with your parents. I took her to Scott’s the other day because I thought maybe she could try playing with Allie again and she clung to my leg the whole time and didn’t say a word.”

Liam frowned, watching Miki preoccupied with a caterpillar inching its way along the branch. “I would have thought she would be okay with Scott. I mean, he is the alpha and everything.”

“Yeah, but transitioning alphas is hard, and her alpha was one of her parents,” Theo said, “I also wonder sometimes if another alpha might have been the one to kill her parents.”

“Why do you say that?” Liam asked sharply.

Theo shrugged. “Scott’s the nicest person alive. And he’s amazing with kids. I don’t know why else it would take this long for Miki to warm up to him.”

“Theo, catch!”

He turned to catch a flying ball of Miki in his arms. “Miki, should we go to the park today?” he asked, aware that this much energy would probably not be a good thing if they had to leave her with Bea or take her with them while they had their suit fittings.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, “And ice cream!”

“No ice cream,” Theo said, wincing at how much sugar this child consumed on a daily basis.

“Yes, ice cream,” Liam countered, “Let’s go get shoes on.”

Miki wormed out of Theo’s arms and raced for the front door.

“Liam,” Theo warned.

“You really want to deprive this poor child of ice cream, Theo?” Liam started, eyes sparkling.

“I’m pretty sure that all she ever eats is sugar between you and Bea,” Theo told him, “The only way she could eat more sugar is if she just mainlined it every meal.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic,” he said, walking slowly, barefoot through the grass next to Theo, pantlegs rolled up past his ankles. Theo was a lot in love. “I think you have low blood sugar. You know what you need?” In love with an idiot.

“I will literally punch you in the face if you say ice cream,” Theo told him.

Liam smirked. Theo had never known anyone who could piss him off and make him so happy at the same time. “Ice – “

Theo threw the punch and then walked into the house smiling, paint stained hands in his pockets as Liam stumbled up the steps behind him, clutching his nose and swearing.

“I think you broke it,” he complained when he followed Theo into the tiny entrance hall where Miki was sitting on the floor, concentrating hard at making a mess of her shoelaces. And sue Theo for not knowing that three-year-olds couldn’t tie their own shoes yet. He was still learning.

“You didn’t break it,” he said, turning from slipping his own beat-up sneakers on to look at Liam’s nose. He pulled Liam’s hand away from his face, cupping the back of his head with his other hand to tip his head backwards a little for a better look. “It’s not even bleeding, idiot.”

Liam pushed at his chest, but then curled his fingers into his shirt, pulling him in for a fast kiss instead. “I hate you,” he smiled against Theo’s lips.

“Yeah,” Theo grinned, “Sure, you do.”

“Theo, I did it!” Miki exclaimed.

Liam released him and he crouched down to inspect the knot she had tied in one shoe. It was nothing like a bow, but it seemed somehow far more complicated than a three year old should be able to create. Although, he supposed, knots were much easier to make than to undo.

“Oh,” he said, not sure what to say to thee monstrosity of a knot that Miki had managed to create. “Um…I guess as long as your shoe doesn’t fall off, it’s very nice.” He could hear Liam laughing behind him and grimaced. Did Liam _want_ Theo to punch him again? He tied the other shoe quickly and then pulled Miki to her feet, glaring at Liam. Theo wasn’t about to stop Miki from being as creative as she wanted and Liam wouldn’t either.

As they walked to the closest playground, Theo couldn’t help but smile. He felt a warm, fuzzy feeling, softer than blinding happiness, yet somehow deeper. He realized that it was pure contentment and was surprised at how strong such a simple feeling could be.

The weather was perfect – hot, but with a decent breeze, and cooling as the sun sank towards the horizon. He and Liam walked with Miki between them, holding both of their hands and swinging them back and forth, answering chattily back today as Liam and Theo smiled at each other over her head. Theo knew that, wedding or not, it couldn’t last forever, but in that moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“What was the good news?” Theo remembered to ask as Miki raced ahead of them through the gates of the playground, his and Liam’s shoulders brushing as they followed slowly.

“Oh!” Liam turned towards him, his entire face lit up into a breathtaking smile, “I might have found a job for you, if you want it.”

Theo raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Someone who will actually hire _me_?” he asked.

A stormy expression passed over Liam’s face. “Theo, _stop_. If anyone’s not giving you a job because of your past, that’s probably illegal and – “

“Liam, it’s fine,” Theo assured him quickly, “I just haven’t found the right thing yet. Something that gives me time to paint and to take care of Miki too, you know?”

Liam looked at him seriously. “I just hate when you say bad things about yourself. Or when other people say bad things about you,” he practically pouted, hand slipping into Theo’s, “Because you don’t deserve it, no matter how much you think you do.”

“I don’t think that,” Theo said quietly, even now feeling the struggle in admitting something positive about himself, “I still have doubts sometimes, but I know…I’m not the same person that I was. I haven’t been for a while.”

Liam squeezed his hand and smiled his brilliant smile again. “I knew we’d get through to you eventually,” he teased.

They started again towards the playground, Theo not even having realized that they had stopped walking.

“So what’s this job?” Theo prompted again.

“Oh, right! Well, you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to, obviously, but we’ve been talking about how we’re going to show what happened at Oak Creek, especially since there are only one or two photographs that we’ve found so far, and someone mentioned getting an artist in to do reimaginings based on our research and Mrs. Yukimura’s memories, and I don’t know why, but I just blurted out that my fiancé is an artist and they told me to ask you and maybe you could do a sketch or two, just to see how you liked it and if your style matches what they’re going for, and – I’m sorry if I overstepped. I just thought it might be cool – “

Theo dragged him in by the hand and kissed him, closed mouthed and decisively. “Thank you,” he said as he pulled away, thumb sweeping over the back of Liam’s hand. “Seriously, that sounds pretty cool. Tell them I’m interested.”

Liam’s eyes lit up, and he started to answer, but caught sight of a little boy staring at them with wide eyes. Before either of them could say anything, he whipped around, screaming, “MOMMY!!!” and raced off.

Theo looked at Liam in confusion, but he had already dropped Theo’s hand, stepping away from him, just a few feet, but far enough for Theo to feel his side go cold at the loss of his presence. It was less concerning to Theo than the look of shock on Liam’s face. Like he had somehow miraculously forgotten that he was in the middle of a sexuality crisis, and here he was, standing with his male fiancé in public with nobody to prove anything to.

“Liam!” Miki’s tiny voice shouted from the swing set, and Liam shot into motion, jogging over to her and smiling like nothing had happened. Theo started to follow him over, but a young woman – the mother of the boy who had been staring at him and Liam before, presumably – intercepted him halfway there.

“Hi,” she said quickly, “Look, I don’t know if this is weird, but my son just told me he saw you kissing your husband, and I just want to say thank you.”

Theo stared at her in surprise. When she had come his way, the conversation that he had imagined she wanted to have was nothing like this. His eyes flickered to Liam who was frowning a little as he pushed Miki on the swing, clearly listening.

“My son came running up to me going on and on about how he didn’t know boys can be married to each other, and it’s not like he has to think about his sexuality any time soon, I mean, he’s five, but I’m just – so happy that there are people like you who are brave enough to show him that it’s an option and anything’s possible So, yeah, this was really weird, but thank you.”

Theo smiled at her. “We’re just living our lives,” he told her, “But it’s definitely a nice change to be thanked instead of shouted at.”

The woman scowled. “Good lord,” she said, “People really need to get over themselves.”

Theo snorted. “You’re not wrong,” he agreed, “Are you new to Beacon Hills?”

“Is it that obvious?” she groaned, “We just moved here two weeks ago. Change of scenery.” Something in her expression told him that wasn’t all, but he let it go. “I’m Crystal, by the way.” She stuck her hand out.

“Theo,” he shook it.

“You’re not new to the area, are you?” she asked.

“No, I went to high school here, but Liam and I just moved back after graduating college,” Theo explained.

“Oh! Wow, you’re young!” she said in surprise.

“I’m 24,” Theo shrugged, “Liam’s 22, about to be 23. I guess it’s young to get married, but,” he shrugged, “He’s my best friend.”

Crystal smiled. “Maybe a little. But people telling you that won’t stop you, will it?” she said.

“No,” Theo laughed, “We’re too spiteful for that.”

Crystal laughed too and looked over at Liam, who was still pushing Miki on the swings, but had a strange look on his face that Theo wasn’t sure he had seen in respects to himself before, however many countless times he had seen it when Liam and Hayden had been together. Liam generally had nobody to be jealous of when it came to Theo.

Crystal seemed to notice it too, because her smile fell away, and she said, “Well, it was nice to meet you Theo, I think I’ll go sit over there so you can spend time with your fiancé and your daughter.”

“Do you want to meet him?” Theo asked, “Them?”

She hesitated.

“He won’t be jealous,” Theo promised, “Not that you aren’t a very nice person.”

“Okay,” she agreed finally, steeling herself, and Theo noted that she seemed almost desperate to find new friends in Beacon Hills. _Starting over,_ he thought.

He led the way back to where Liam was helping Miki out of the swing so that she could climb on the monkey bars next to the swing set, slipping an arm immediately around his waist, knowing, somehow, that Liam needed the proximity.

“Liam, this is Crystal,” Theo told him softly in his ear, “She’s new to Beacon Hills, so be nice.” He snuck a kiss to Liam’s jaw just under his ear.

Liam turned to glare at Theo, who tried to silently signal that all he wanted was to help this person to start a new, probably happier life.

“Nice to meet you,” Liam said, turning to her after a second, leaning closer to Theo to shake her hand.

They talked for a little while, about kids and Theo and Liam’s time at school, and their engagement, which was strangely beginning to feel less and less fake by the day. Theo would be worried about how easily he and Liam had fallen into the “engaged couple” routine, but at this point, he thought that maybe having an actual wedding date might be throwing things out of line from their original plan. Whatever their original plan had been. Maybe they _should_ be talking about the fact that they had sort of agreed to actually get married after all…

Eventually, they ran out of time before Theo and Liam had to be at the tailor’s to meet however many of the pack had time to spare out of their schedules to personally manhandle them into what would probably be too-expensive suits (Theo had a perfectly good suit in his closet, and he knew for a fact that Liam did too. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the third ever pack wedding, though.). They dropped Miki off with Melissa and Chris, and then listened to the radio in comfortable silence on the way into the busier part of Beacon Hills.

“This might be bad timing,” Theo tried, “But, um…I think we should talk – more – about this actually getting married thing.” He twisted the ring around on his pinky until the light turned green.

“You said you wanted to,” Liam scowled out the window, “What else is there to talk about?”

“Why?” Theo asked, “Why actually get married? And how long will we stay married for? I don’t mind being married to you, Liam, but I have to know that we can talk about these things when we have to.”

“Can’t you just trust me?” Liam asked, sounding almost like he was begging.

“I _do_ trust you,” Theo insisted, “I just need you to trust me too. Enough to talk about the kinds of decisions that are going to significantly impact our lives for the next however many months or years, even. You can’t just drop _let’s get married for real_ on someone and expect them not to question it.”

Liam huffed, still looking out the window as Theo pulled into a parking spot in front of the suit shop. “But you’re Theo. You’re supposed to be my ride or die,” he grumbled.

“And I am. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know the general direction I’m following you in occasionally.” He turned the car off, undid his seatbelt, and turned fully to face Liam. “Look – “

Liam turned too, eyes earnest. “Theo, I know,” he promised, taking a deep breath, “And I think…I think maybe it’s time to tell you – “

A loud rap on the window made them both jump, turning to see Scott’s face practically pressed against the glass.

He stepped back, grinning, and Liam and Theo both got out. “The others are inside already,” he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

“Do I even want to know who else came?” Liam asked with almost a pout, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Just Lydia and Derek and Mason and Corey and your mom,” Scott said kindly, “But we’ll have to split up into two rooms.”

“What? Why?” Theo frowned.

“Well, you can’t see each other’s suits until the big day!” Scott said, nearly scandalized.

“No!” Liam whined in protest, his puppy eyes turning on Theo like he had any say in it.

“It’s bad luck!” Scott insisted, ushering them inside.

Everything was a whir of being introduced to employees and offered champagne and ushered into separate fitting rooms, and before Theo knew it, he was standing on a pedestal in front of Derek and Corey and, for some reason, Lydia, who seemed to be taking an uncomfortably keen interest in Theo’s wedding suit.

“I just want you to look as good as possible,” she explained briskly, as she swapped out one shirt for another, the employee long since having acknowledged that Lydia appeared to know what she was doing.

“What about Liam?” he asked.

“Mason’s got it covered,” she said vaguely. Theo got the sense that she didn’t care quite so much about how desirable Liam looked on his wedding day. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had known what was going on with the two of them the entire time. She had a strange way of seeing straight through people that way.

He rolled his eyes and looked at Derek in the mirror. “Why are you here?” he asked.

“Moral support,” Derek said, arms crossed over his chest.

“Uh-huh. You heard anything new about Miki’s family?” he watched Lydia hold up a sky blue shirt and then a white one before switching again.

“They’re couldn’t get a positive identification,” Derek sighed, “Makes me think it was definitely hunters though. They clean up their tracks suspiciously well.”

Theo craned his neck to look at Derek and Corey over his shoulder.

“But the bodies were torn to pieces,” Corey said, “With teeth and claws.”

Derek shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time hunters have used wolves against their own kind,” he said, eyes flickering to the store employee, who was just out of hearing range.

“What about tracking?” Theo asked, “Couldn’t you get anything from the clearing?”

“Only that they weren’t killed there…” Derek met his eyes in the mirror, “Miki might know…”

“If she did, she’s repressed that memory by now,” Theo frowned, “And it’s not exactly a memory that I want to bring back up.”

Derek continued to watch him in the mirror. Lydia paused, still holding the two shirts up to Theo, her eyes now narrowed, moving between the two of them.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” she said, “Letting Scott access her memories like that.”

“Yes,” Derek said, “But there’s a chance that she could come away without remembering what she saw and it would give us all of the information we need.”

“It’s incredibly dangerous. Especially for a kid her age and with the memories repressed – “

“Which is why we haven’t tried it yet,” Derek reminded him.

“Wait,” Corey interrupted, “Are you talking about the claw thing? The way you access memories?”

“Yeah,” Theo sighed, “But only if we have no other choice.” He said.

“Well obviously,” Lydia sniffed, pressing the white shirt into his hands. “This one. With the blue suit. The bright one, not that navy atrocity. Then come back out so I can give you a tie and shoes.”

“I _have_ ties and shoes,” he protested hopelessly as she pushed him towards the dressing room.

“Not ones suitable for your own wedding,” she informed him, “You’ll thank me later when Liam’s peeling you out of it.”

He did as she said, because who was anyone to deny Lydia anything? And he had to admit, as he stood in front of the mirror in a crisp white button down and a suit that was a beautiful, vibrant shade of blue, not a flashy bright blue, and not the light color of Liam’s eyes, but not the soulless navy that Theo saw so many businessmen wearing these days either.

He walked out to a chorus of impressed noises. Lydia rushed him back to the pedestal and started talking far too quickly to the tailor.

”We need it fitted to him perfectly. The wedding’s outside, so I think if we just cropped the hem of the pants to the ankle – and brown shoes! Where are your shoes?”

“Who do you want at your bachelor party?” Corey asked, after a while of watching Theo putting on a tie just to take it off two seconds later in exchange for a slightly different one being thrust in his face.

“I don’t need a bachelor party,” Theo frowned.

“Uh, yes you do,” Corey told him, swiping through his phone, “Trust me.”

“Yeah, because I cherish my life as a single man so much,” Theo rolled his eyes, “What do you think I’m going to do? Hook up with some stranger the night before I get married?”

“No,” Corey rolled his eyes, “It doesn’t have to be a celebration of unmarried life. It can just be a night out with friends. That’s allowed, you know?”

“Sure,” Theo said dryly.

“Just go with it, Theo,” Lydia advised, “Liam’s having one.”

He looked at her sharply. “He is?” Derek snorted behind him, but Theo ignored it.

“Of course, he is. And from what I’ve heard from Mason and Stiles and Scott, it sounds really dumb, so for the love of god, please just let Corey plan a decent bachelor’s party for you. If for no other reason than to give me something better to do that go paintballing and go carting.

Theo looked at Corey and shrugged, getting the feeling that asking him about it was a mere formality. “The three of you, I guess,” he said, “If you want to come. And Cecily. Whoever else you feel like inviting.”

“Right,” Corey tapped into his phone, “Anywhere you want to go? Anything you want to do?”

Theo looked into the mirror at himself, dressed perfectly in his wedding suit with the shiny brown shoes and the classy floral tie that Lydia was giving a last adjustment to. “Do whatever you think is best,” he said, “I trust you.”

When he was finally back in his regular clothes and the others were all gathered in the central part of the shop, talking, Theo slipped into Liam’s fitting area, and knocked on the door to his dressing room.

“Who is it?” Liam asked.

“It’s me,” he said, “Can I come in?”

The door opened and Liam smiled at him, buttoning the top of his jeans distractingly. Theo slipped inside the small room as Liam searched for his t-shirt.

“How’d it go?” Theo asked, watching him.

“Not bad. I’m just glad I didn’t have Lydia in here with me. I heard she took over your entire fitting.”

“Yeah,” Theo shrugged. “She did a good job, though, so I don’t mind.”

“What’s up, then?” Liam straightened up, shirt in hand, “You look worried.”

“Derek said we might need to think about accessing Miki’s memories,” he found himself saying without really realizing that he had even been thinking about telling Liam. But of course Liam had to know. They were in this together. They were in everything together now.

Liam pulled his shirt over his head and frowned. “That could be really dangerous for her,” he said.

“I know,” Theo agreed, “But it might end up being our only option.”

Liam reached out and took his hand, squeezing it lightly. “We won’t let anything hurt her,” he promised.

“I know,” Theo agreed.

“And about what I was going to say earlier – about telling each other everything…I think I  - “

A knock came at the door and they both looked at it. Liam moved in front of Theo and pulled it open.

“Liam, Honey?” Jenna poked her head in, eyes wide, brow furrowed, cellphone in her hand. Theo could smell the overwhelming scent of confusion.

He and Liam looked at her.

“Yeah, Mom?” Liam frowned.

“Your father’s coming for the wedding. Your birth father,” she told him.


End file.
